


On Our Own Terms

by Coffeeteanves



Series: Sliding Into Her DMs [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Domesticity, Engagement, F/M, Fluff, Golf, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Larry Stylinson Is Real, M/M, Meeting Family, Photography, Pure genuine feel good fluff, Racing, Swimming, WORLD RECORD, best friends to the rescue, ironman - Freeform, mild sex, physical assault, quarantine fic, reunion concert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 58,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24027571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coffeeteanves/pseuds/Coffeeteanves
Summary: Third part in the series.Cait and Niall agree their soulmates and with the quarantine over they are going back to real life. How are they going to mesh their lives together and stay by each other's side. She is a teacher, but Niall finds out that there is more to her than just that. Slowly, Cait meets those important to him and will she win them over, just like she did Niall?For the two to stay together, there are a lot of things for them to figure out, but one thing is for sure, they both have lots of friends and family to help them.**highly suggest you read the first two parts so it all makes sense.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Sliding Into Her DMs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1703272
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

The middle of June opens with the shelter in place order being lifted. Life is coming back to London, coming back to England. Both Niall and Cait are ready to go back to outside life, now by each other’s side. 

After checking her work email, Cait is beside herself because she can open the pool back up soon. She runs into the living room with a huge smile on her face and jumps on Niall’s back while he is in the kitchen making them breakfast. 

“Hey, watch yourself luv, what’s got you in a tizzy?” 

“The pool is opening. It’s the one thing, I have missed the most about all this. I’m swimming todaaaaayyyyyyyy. This makes me so happy,” she says with a huge smile on her facing while spinning around the kitchen. 

Cait is so excited, she can hardly stand it. Being out of the pool since March has been so hard for her and has affected her training. 

Niall watches her with a huge smile on her face, this exuberance is a new side of Cait that he hasn’t seen. 

“Can I come with?”

“Really, you want to come?” she asks shocked. 

“Yeah, I would love to. There is nothing that I have to do today.”

“Do you want to work out with me, have you swum before? I can show you. When can we go,” she squeezes his cheeks with one hand and puts a fish lips kiss on him. 

With a laugh, Niall responds, “I can swim, but I have never done a workout, be gentle with me and let’s eat breakfast first.”

“Always Boo!” Cait continues dancing around the flat singing “I’m swimming todaaaay, I’m swimming todaaaaay, just swimming todaaay.” 

All Niall can do is watch, chuckling at her and agreeing, she really can’t sing. 

They eat breakfast and Cait is barely containing her excitement. She runs down to her flat to grab her suit and is back up before Niall finishes cleaning up. Cait nudges him to go get ready and she takes over. 

Niall drives them because he doesn’t really want to run after Cait. He watches as she unlocks the doors of the natatorium and walks inside. She stops and takes a deep breath in, holds it and then releases it, her eyes are closed and she is smiling. He hears her whisper, “home sweet, home.”   
He has never seen this side of her and it warms his heart. He adds it to the long list of things he loves about her. 

Happy, does not even begin to describe what Cait is feeling. She is thrilled to have some normalcy back into her life. She can finally train again, see her swimmers and when she jumps in, she feels enveloped in a cold hug. It feels amazing.

Niall watches her jump in and goes to join her, jumping in as well. 

“Holy fuck, that’s cold!” he says when he surfaces. “Warn a boyfriend next time.” 

Cait is laughing at his reaction. “Sorry, I should have, but you won’t stay cold for long,” she says with a sly grin. 

“I will have to take your word on that, so what do you want to do?” 

“You are going to want to put those fins on and let’s do a warm up,” she says. 

Niall thinks this will be easy, but sees she doesn’t put any on. They are using kickboards and he is having to push himself to stay up with her. Now, Niall has always thought he was in shape and could hold his own, but he was finding it harder and harder to keep up. 

“So, how long is the warm up?” 

“We do about 2000 meters and then get into the workout.” 

“How many meters have we done?” 

“Um, 200.”

Niall is finding his running doesn’t translate over to the pool. He is sucking wind before he knows it. 

“Let me show you some things. Swim at your own pace. Vary your strokes, kicks and do what you can do. Don’t worry about staying with me.”

Cait demonstrates some exercises to do and helps him. She makes some suggestions to give him a variety. Niall knows she wants to take off and tells her to do her thing. 

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t want to mess up your workout, go,” he says. 

He doesn’t have to tell Cait twice, she kicks off the wall and glides through the water so smoothly, with hardly any splash. Niall just watches her is awe. Is she ever going to stop impressing him? She and the water are like a symphony, melding together as she cuts through the water with her graceful strokes.

He gets started doing what she suggested and finds that he is really enjoying it. Cait does four laps to his two, but it doesn’t bother him. After an hour, he gets out and sits on the edge of the pool, feeling exhausted, but good from his workout. Niall finds himself watching Cait while he partakes in an after-workout snack and thinks how he loves learning new bits about her. 

Cait swims up the wall and this time, doesn’t do a flip turn. “How ya’ feeling?” she asks. 

“Tired, but good tired, if that makes sense, but I enjoyed myself. You’re amazing to watch, Cait, you slice that water like a knife.” 

“Thank you, swimming is my therapy. I’m able to shut out the outside and just clear my mind. One of my students says it’s like the loud silence surrounding you becomes muffled murmurs. It calms your mind and soothes your soul.”

“You better be careful, that sounds like some song lyrics.”

“Or maybe poetry,” she says as she jumps up. Niall thinks she is going for a kiss, so he leans down to only find her grabbing his shoulders and pulling him in. 

“What the craic you do that for?” He says sputtering when he comes up. 

“So I can do this.” Cait presses her body to him and kisses him on the lips. “Oh, well, you can keep doing that,” Niall says when they break away. And they do just that.

His hands are under her armpits and he can’t help it if is thumbs are rubbing the side of her breasts. She must like it because as they kiss, she lets out little moans. Their kiss deepens and Niall is getting more turned on. He peppers kisses along her neck and behind her ear and then back to her mouth. By this time, they are so pliant that neither is holding on to the edge and they eventually sink below the surface kissing. When they come up for air, they are both laughing. 

“I always thought that would be more romantic than it really is,” Cait says with a laugh. “They make it look so easy in the movies.”

“Oh, Cait, what am I going to do with you?” Niall laughs. 

“Take me to bed or lose me forever, ya’ big stud!”

Niall looks at her, “are you quoting Top Gun?” 

She smiles, knowing exactly what she is doing. He plays along. 

“Show me the way home, honey.” 

They left the pool remarkably fast after that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall and Cait discuss how to balance his tour schedule with her commitments.

When Niall wakes up the next morning, he finds a very naked and warm Cait wrapped around him. Her hair is super messy, she is softly snoring against his chest and they both smell of chlorine, neither taking a shower when they got home. They had other things on their mind and other than some food, they never once left the bed. 

Not wanting to wake her, he lays back and enjoys the feeling of her wrapped around him. His body is sore in places that he didn’t know he could be sore, it is debatable if it from swimming or their passionate lovemaking, but one thing is certain – just like everything else Cait does, she is all in when it comes to making love as well. He enjoyed discovering her body and what she likes and doesn’t like and she was eager to do the same. She is so giving and he adds that to the already long list in his heart of why he wants her by his side. Without even thinking, he softly brushes her hair away from her face and kisses her forehead. 

“Mmmmmm” she mumbles and presses herself more tightly against him. Niall softly caresses her breast and watches her tense up, scrunching her noise. 

“That is not mmmmm, that tickles,” she says as she moves away from him and he is suddenly a little cold. 

“Good morning, luv.” 

“Good morning, Boo.” 

They lay there looking at each other, taking it all in. Cait’s the first to break the silence, “last night was one of the best nights of my life.” She looks down right after she says it, almost as if she is shy. 

Niall leans over and puts a finger under her chin and says with a smile, “it was for me too A Stór.” He goes to get up and tells her to shower and he will make them some coffee and breakfast. 

Cait stretches and Niall takes in her beautiful body and doesn’t hesitate when Cait says, why don’t they shower together. 

“Breakfast can wait,” he says as he swoops her up and takes her to the shower. 

After shower breakfast and food breakfast, both separate for the day with the promise of dinner at her place. Cait goes out to train and Niall needs to work on the reunion with the band. 

One thing that has kept Niall busy during the day is planning the reunion concert with the other boys since no one will be going on tour in the summer. Liam almost ruined it and Niall had to do a quick interview denying there were plans during the quarantine, but now word is out. 

The boys decided to make it a charity concert and donate all the proceeds to various organizations and healthcare groups. Since they all have solo careers, it is decided that they will also play two of their own songs and then play their greatest hits. 

Someone suggests they put out a greatest hits LP as well and add some of the songs that never made it to any albums. With so many ideas going around, and the fact that this is for charity, everyone agrees. 

Deciding the songs to sing has been the real challenge. They all have different favorites. After discussing it one night, a suggestion is made that each guy suggest one and then have their significant others and family suggest one. This concert is as much for them, as it is the band. 

Now that they can all meet in person; it has been suggested to have a big get together with significant others and family, a One Direction family reunion. Harry and Louis agree to host it and the date is set. Everyone wants to meet Cait and Niall calls his family and makes arrangements for them to fly over for the first week of July and stay until the concert.

Cait has been listening in on the planning, offering suggestions. It was she, who in fact suggested everyone choose one song from the One Direction vault. She chose “Home,” which didn’t surprise Niall at all. She seems excited to meet everyone, already feeling comfortable with them through their Zoom nights. He hopes she won’t become overwhelmed. 

They also make plans for him to meet her family in person. 

When they are not in reunion mode, Cait and him talk a lot. About the next school year, his tour, her coaching, them going public. Niall doesn’t want to do anything that would make her feel uncomfortable. They both agree to put their relationship first which is why Niall asks for her swim schedule and school calendar. 

He doesn’t dare suggest she give up teaching and tour with him. Niall wants to, but he also wants to live. The thought has occurred to him when she is off, she joins him. It’s a fine line because he recognizes Cait’s independence, but he wants to share these memories with her. He suggests as much one evening when he gets a draft of some rescheduled dates for Ireland and Britain for the fall. 

“Cait, would you consider going on tour with me, if you didn’t have to take off school?” 

“I would, but I wouldn’t want to be in the way.” 

“You would never be in the way. I want it to be together.” 

“I was kind of hoping you would ask me to be honest. I would love the opportunity to see you perform. I also want to understand that part of your life and it would be fun to travel to other parts of the world.”

“Would you be willing to fly out on longer weekends as well?”

“Sure, I would as long as it is not during swim season. I’m open to anything really. Let me know dates and I will make reservations.” 

“Cait, you know I’m not going to let you pay for this, right? In fact, I don’t want you to feel like you have to pay for anything, luv.”

Cait gives him a look of consternation and Niall would give anything to read her mind at that moment. 

“What? Tell me what you are thinking.” 

“Umm, well, I don’t want you to feel like you always have to pay for me. I don’t want you to ever think, I just expect it, you know?”

“Cait, the very fact that you would even say that lets me know you aren’t. Don’t worry about it, really and if it does bother me, I’ll let you know, okay? But I don’t think it will. Do you know how much self-control I’m using to not buy you things because I know it bugs you?” I love that I can pay for things for us and if I can make you not worry about money, then please let me.” 

“I hear what you are saying Niall, it is just hard for me. I already know that when people find out we are together and I’m a teacher, they are going to say I’m gold digger. It bothers me because I know it will hurt you.” 

“You don’t strike me as the kind of person that cares what people think and Cait, I’m used to comments. I have thick skin.” 

“But, I don’t like, that I’m the one causing it. I’m not afraid, but this a bigger scale - like, you are you and I’m me . .”

“Cait, not this again, I thought we were going to roll with the punches and take it as it comes. If anything, I’m with a woman who can kick my ass at just about anything and I don’t care what those fuckers are going to say because I know the truth and so do the people that matter, okay?” 

She nods silently, but he can still see some insecurity showing through. Niall will just have to prove it to her. 

“So, schedules ya’, how are we going to make this work?” Cait asks obviously ended the conversation. 

Niall tells Cait about how Harry and Louis make sure never to be a part more than a certain number of days and he wants to try to do the same. Touring is important, but if Cait can’t be with him, he doesn’t want to be gone super long. Cait counters him offering up the fact that she doesn’t’ want him to be so exhausted from traveling to see her or she him. 

“What about when you are in Australia or far enough away that it doesn’t make sense for you to travel often?” she asks. 

Niall’s heart warms at her thoughtfulness. He is not used to having someone be so in his corner and put his needs first. 

“What if I ask my manager to schedule dates that when I’m done with one country, I get a week off before we go to the next country? That gives me time to fly home, acclimate and spend time with you. In the summer, you can come join me,” he says. 

“Niall, I have no concept of a tour. I know I will miss you, but I can live without seeing you for a month, to give you time to enjoy what you do. Remember when I asked you why you sing and you said to bring joy to people. I don’t want to get in the way of that and traveling too much will make you so exhausted. Also, what about the cost of putting a tour on pause for a week, there is a lot of moving parts involved. I don’t want to be the reason that fans have to pay so much for tickets or you end up losing money,” she finishes. 

Niall thinks over her words and squints at her, “Cait, how much do you think I make from a tour?” 

“I don’t know, $100,000?”

“Try again.”

“Really, Ni. I have no idea. $500,000?” He shakes his head and points up. “$750,000?” 

“Nope.” 

“A million?” she asks with a look of incredulity on her face. 

“No, but are you getting the idea?” he asks as he tugs her over to him for a hug seeing the look of shock across her face. 

“I am, but I can’t comprehend it,” she says shaking her head. “In that case, I want you home every weekend so you can spend time with me and you, sir, are buying the groceries from now on,” she declares. 

“Oh really, every weekend? What about our previous conversation then? And I have been trying to buy the groceries, your stubborn self won’t let me,” he says kissing her. 

“Every weekend and besides groceries, everything is previous convo still goes,” she responds with a smile. “Realistically though, I’m teaching during the week and during swim season, starting in January to February, I have a meet every weekend. I’m never home. You schedule what you need to schedule, but what if we had a shared document or calendar that we call our ‘non-negotiable,’ dates that you can share with your manager. Then, she can schedule time for travel and recovery. As for the rest of the time, let’s play it by ear,” Cait finishes. 

“How did I get so lucky as to not have a leachy girlfriend?” 

“Watch it buddy, I already know two dates I need you home for, so let’s look at that schedule you got and plan. By the way, how long does a tour last?” she says. 

“Typically, a year, but could be up to two, it just depends on if you can keep selling tickets and if there is a demand,” he says. 

“There will always be a demand Boo, especially from me,” Cait says kissing him. 

After that, Niall creates a document and shares it with his manager and Cait. He sees Sept. 1, Oct. 4, Feb. 26 and 27 already. He knows the February dates are the swim state competition, but he doesn’t know what the others are. He adds Feb. 14 and Sept. 13 and March 17 as well. He will be home to celebrate her birthday and his for that matter. 

He calls up his manager to tell her he wants to change how he tours this time. Jill, is surprised when Niall explains that he wants to be more particular with his dates and talks about the non-negotiables. If she sees another person is added to the document, she doesn’t say anything. He also asks her to schedule the North American leg of his tour for Summer 2021 and give him some time between each venue to explore the area. 

Already, thinking of having Cait with him. Niall really stresses that he wants to give the crew time to rest and enjoy where they are and if she can swing it, give him as many weekends off while he is in Europe as possible so he can come back to London. Jill finally asks why and Niall explains he doesn’t want to tour to the point of exhaustion anymore, he wants to explore the cities they are in and take more time to meet fans and enjoy the process. He wants to enjoy the process and not work until the point of exhaustion like he did with the band. Jill is surprised, but the pandemic changed people so who is she to question.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall meets Cait's parents and brothers. He also learns about a secret Cait has been hiding.

One evening they are lounging around on the couch when Cait gets a text from her mum inviting Niall and her to dinner. She knew it was coming and Cait is looking forward to seeing her family again. She has missed her Dad’s hugs and her mum’s cooking. 

“Hey Boo, my mum’s wanting to plan a dinner for Sunday and have my brothers come, she made it a point to say you are to come too. What’d say? Want to meet my family?” 

Niall and Cait had talked about meeting each other’s family in person. He had spoken to her brothers through Zoom and met their wives the same way. 

“Sure, luv. I would love to meet everyone,” he says, looking forward to seeing the house where Cait grew up. 

Sunday gets here and Cait bakes a pie, Niall buys flowers and a bottle of wine. He may have met them virtually, but he wants to make a good impression. Cait looks beautiful in a sundress and Niall realizes that he hasn’t taken her any place where she needs to get dressed up. This is also the first time he has seen her with make-up and her hair done.

“Lookin’ quite spiffy there,” Cait says when he comes down to pick her up. Cait secretly loves Niall’s clothing style. It suits his personality perfectly, a classy look with a modern take. 

“Not so bad yourself, luv,” Niall admires with a smile.

Cait does a little spin, preening under her boyfriend’s eyes. 

They head out and Cait is excited and nervous. “Don’t be alarmed by my brothers or my dad okay? They are really tall; I may have forgotten to mention that.” 

“How tall is tall?” 

“Um, my dad is 6’9 and my brothers are 6’4 and 6’3.”

“Holy shit Cait, that would have been nice to know!”

“Well, it doesn’t mean anything. They are just tall. I’m the shortest in my family. They are all big teddy bears really.”

“Teddy bears who turn into grizzly bears when they meet the guy that their only sister brings home.” 

“It will be fine. besides you have already met them.” 

When they arrive at her parents’ house, her brothers are already there and Niall mentally prepares himself. He gets a quick text off to the group chat. 

“Meeting Cait’s family today, she just told me her dad is 6’9, pray for me.”

“I will sing at your funeral,” Zayn replies and Louis sends a laughing emoji. 

They head to the front door and Cait goes on in. 

“Hello, Mum, we’re here.” 

“Caitlin, oh, I missed you!” Her mum says and Niall sits back and watches the two hug, clinging to each other since it has been a long time. “I’ve missed this mum,” Cait says.  
“Me too darling.” 

“Hello Niall, come, come in. Oh, are these for me. They are beautiful. How thoughtful of you,” she says when he gives her the flowers and before he knows it, he is ensconced in a hug. 

“Hi Trish, how are you?” Niall says. 

“Better now that you both are here. My family is all under one roof now.” Trish says and leads them in. 

Niall sees Patrick, Cait’s dad and walks up to him to shake his hand. Cait wasn’t kidding when he looks up at him. Patrick’s hand completely engulfs his, it makes Niall inwardly shudder. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you in person, sir,” Niall says. 

“So it is. You are a little shorter than I thought you were,” Patrick responds.

“Well sir, you’re a little taller than I thought you were, so I guess we are even.” 

“Dad, stop it. Don’t give him a hard time,” Cait says when Patrick laughs. 

“I’m just kidding, Niall welcome to our home, is that for us?” Patrick says pointing to the wine. 

Niall hands it over and realizes he is sweating. This is worse than his X-factor audition. 

Cait grabs his hand and whispers, “You’re doing fine. Don’t be nervous, they already know about you.”

She leads him into the living room where he sees Peter and Daniel with their wives. 

“Sister, good to see you in person finally. You look shorter,” Daniel says. 

“And you look uglier, come here you lug and hug me.” Daniel picks her up and spins her around. 

Niall laughs, he took an instant liking to Daniel and likes his sense of humor, he loves seeing the joy on her face too. 

Cait hugs everyone and then comes over to grab him.

“Hey all, I would like to officially introduce you to my boyfriend, Niall.”

“Nice to meet all of you in person, Cait has told me stories,” Niall says as he shakes everyone’s hands. 

“And you are the singer, huh?” Peter asks. 

“Peter, be nice,” Cait says and Karen, his wife even looks at him. 

“No, I just want to know, you are world famous and now my sister’s boyfriend. We all want to know. How?” Peter says. 

“I told you, Peter, now stop it,” Cait says. Niall can tell she is getting irritated even though Cait had told him that Peter is very protective of her. 

“Well, one, have you seen her? She is amazing in everything she does, I think the question is what does she see in me?” Niall says. 

Peter is giving him the stink eye and Niall stares right back. The air in the room is tense and then Peter cracks a smile and says, “If you can put up with her, then God bless ya’,” and extends his hand. Niall shakes it with ease and a tense laugh. 

I think everyone let out a sigh at that and Cait hits Peter on the arm, “You’re a right, git. Ugh.” 

Cait walks up to Niall whispering, “Sorry about Peter, there is a reason Danny and I call him the asshole brother.” Niall just smiles. 

Trish brings in drinks for everyone and they settle down.

“You handled that well,” Trish says. “Typically, Peter is not so quick to give in.” 

“Years of practice,” Niall says with a shrug. “So, how does a family end up with three teachers and your names are all similar?” he asks. 

“Chance, fate, who knows, but it makes for fun discussions. Now that you are here, you all can commiserate. It takes special man to be with a teacher,” Kalle, Daniel’s wife says.

“I’m learning that.” Niall says thinking back to helping her pack up her classroom. 

Niall learned that Karen, Peter’s wife, coaches and teaches calculus. Kalle teaches English language learners in middle school. He asks about how they handled the end of the year, feeling like that is one area where he had some insight due to Cait. 

“Where are the girls?” Cait asks.

“Kim and Jessie are outside. I have to warn you, Kim is super excited to meet you Niall. There may be screaming,” Karen says. 

“Thanks for the warning,” he says. 

Soon he hears, “Aunt Cait, you’re here.” 

Cait is rushed by two girls and hugged and kissed and he hears girl giggles. He loves it and then he notices the oldest freezes and stares at him. 

“You, you're him. Oh my God. I didn’t think it was true.”

“Hi, I’m Niall,” he says as he puts out his hand. 

“Umm, I’m, I’m, I’m.” 

“Spit it out smart one, he puts his pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us,” Peter says. 

“You must be Kim, your aunt talks about you a lot. I’ve seen pictures of you too,” Niall says. 

Kim turns to her parents, “He’s seen pictures of me, ME.” 

“Oh Kim, calm down. This is Niall, my boyfriend,” Cait says and brings her over to Niall. 

“Hi, sorry about that. It’s just that you have always been my favorite and I thought my parents were kidding when they said you were Aunt Cait’s boyfriend,” Kim says. 

“Nope, not kidding and guess what,” he whispers, making her come closer, “She’s my girlfriend and I love her.” 

“You do?” Kim asks. 

“I do,” Niall responds. 

“Good, because her last boyfriend was an arsehole, so she is definitely dating up,” Kim declares. 

“KIM! Mind your manners,” Karen says appalled. 

Niall can’t help but laugh and Cait is standing there with her mouth open. 

“Well, I think I’m the one dating up,” Niall says. 

“Good, don’t forget it! What Mum, it’s true. None of you liked him and he told Jessie and I that he hates kids. I’m glad you’re here Niall, but if you break her heart, I will gut you and declare that 5SOS is my favorite band,” Kim says as she walks away. 

They stand there in a stunned silence and Niall looks at Cait who is red. 

“I’m terribly sorry for her, she has manners,” Karen says leaving to address her daughter. 

Niall is stunned for a second and then he starts laughing. “I’ve been threatened with worse, but I’m finding lots of people are protective of Cait and I can deal with that.” 

Cait is blushing and he hears Peter say, “That’s my girl,” while fist bumping Daniel.

“Well, I think the novelty of you being from One Direction has worn off,” Cait says with a smile.

Trish claps her hands and breaks the moment and says dinner is ready and we head to the dining room. 

“I’m so sorry about that,” Cait whispers. 

“It’s all good, luv,” he says and kisses her forehead. “They are just protective and I know why.”

Dinner turns out to be a blast. Many conversations going on at once with laughter and eating. Niall looks over to Kim and sees her staring at him, he just smiles. He enjoys the noise and how relaxed everyone is, it’s not something he is used to with his small family. After being in quarantine for so long, it is so refreshing, even if his ears are ringing at bit. 

After dinner, Cait is doing the dishes with the women and she looks up realizing she can’t hear the guys anymore. 

“Where’s Dad?” Cait asks. “In fact, where’s are the boys?” 

“Oh, they’re around,” Trish says, but there is something in her voice that catches Cait’s attention. 

“Karen, Kalle, where are your husbands?” Cait all, but demands. 

Neither of them look at her and that is when she becomes suspicious. She turns to her mum. “You will tell me right now where the boys are right now! This isn’t nice.” 

Cait narrows her eyes at her mum, then at her sisters, not convinced that something is going on and she is left out of it. No one will make eye contact and she knows that her brothers and dad are talking with Niall. She not really surprised after her last boyfriend, they are much more protective, but she doesn’t like it. 

By now, Cait hears some chuckles coming from the back and her mum calmly looks at her and has the nerve to say, “Why, I think they are having some scotch and cigars on the patio.”  
The ladies finish cleaning up, Cait wonders by the door and sees Niall and the men smiling and laughing so she leaves it be. Cait wanders around the house and finds herself in her old bedroom. She looks around and smiles at the memories and can’t believe how much her life has changed since she was here last. The feeling of contentment fills her and she feels like she is in a good place. How quickly life changes and she has this amazing man that fills her heart with joy. He is loving, caring, kind, amazingly good looking and so incredibly talented. She almost wants to pinch herself because who would have thought in March that they would be here. She shakes her head to clear it and smiles. 

Niall finds Cait in what he gathers is her room. She doesn’t notice him yet and he takes the opportunity to observe. It also gives him a chance to look around her room. It screams Cait, and he notices all her awards on one wall. She is sitting there with a big smile on her face and that makes him feel happy. 

“Luv, you okay in here?” Niall says as he walks in. 

Cait greets him with a smile, “Did you survive my brothers and Da’?” 

Niall laughs, “Let’s just say that they did the whole ‘take you around back conversation.’ I expected as much. They wanted to know my intentions towards you.” 

“I’m so sorry, they had no right.”

“They did, it’s all squared away, I also may have said I would give your nieces tickets to the 1D concert.” 

“So, you resorted to bribery?” Cait says with a smile putting her arms around Niall smelling the alcohol and cigar. 

“Yeah, but I was also honest with them too,” Niall soberly says. “I told them that I see a future with you by my side and I would do everything in my power to make sure you were always safe. They seemed happy with that response.”

“You used your Irish charm, did ‘ya?”

“Maybe, but I really like your family,” Niall responds kissing her. 

Not regretting when their kiss deepens, Niall remembers where they are and pulls away. The last thing he wants to do is disrespect her parents’ home. 

Looking around her room, he walks over and looks at her trophies and medals. He doesn’t know why he not surprised to see triathlons, marathons, and lots of swim medals. He sees a junior national championship medal, his eyes widen. Then he sees a frame with her on the podium for the national championship and he turns to look at her. She just shrugs. Then he sees a world championship bronze medal, “Holy shit Cait! You never said.” 

“Yeah, that was a long time ago. I qualified for the trials on that one.”

“The Olympic Trials?” 

Cait nods.

“Cait, I thought Lou was kidding. That’s amazing. I had no idea, I mean I knew you did races, but babe, you’re a rock star!”

“No, you are Boo, I swim.” Cait says cheekily. 

“Why don’t you talk about this, I knew, but I had no idea the extent you competed, the medals you’ve won. Top 10 in the world!!!!” Niall exclaims when he sees the plaque.

“Why don’t you talk about your time in the 1D, the awards, the tours, all the famous people you know?” Cait counters.

“Touché luv, but I see your point.”

“Ni, it is part of my past. I don’t know everything you’ve won. I figured it would come up eventually, but we are focusing on the future, remember? Yes, these things are a part of me and they are a very important part of us individually, but you don’t toot your own horn and neither do I.”

Niall was a little hurt that she hadn’t shared all of this, but he sees her point. 

“I know, but can’t I be proud of you. I had no idea you are such a bad ass.”

“I wouldn’t say that, it is something I do and I’m good at it and the accolades are a part of it, but there is a reason they are here and not in my flat. It’s not what’s important to me anymore. I’ll tell you everything one day, but not now okay?”

Cait doesn’t have the heart to tell him why it is not important, but it pleases her that he is reacting the way he is. That instead of him doing the impressing, she has something to impress him. 

Niall nods in understanding, “Caitlin, you are one amazing woman, you know that?” Niall says as he goes to kiss her, breaking away to say, “And the next time you say, ‘you are you and I am me,’ I’m calling bull shit because YOU are a freaking badass and I get to call you my girlfriend.” 

They kiss again and Cait whispers “I love you.” Before Niall can say it back, they hear her mum calling for them to come down for dessert. He grabs her hand to leave and says “ditto,” kissing her nose. 

The evening ends with laughter and happiness. Kim finally is over her hero worship and Niall enjoys watching Cait interact with her nieces. They did have to give a stern warning that Kim and Jessie can’t say anything to anyone about Cait and Niall. The threat of not getting to see 1D seems to work, but not before Niall signed some autographs for them. 

When Cait hugs her mum goodbye, Trish whispers in her ear, “he is lovely, marry him.”  
Cait looks at her mum in surprise, but they didn’t have a chance to say anymore. Her mum just nods knowingly at her. 

Once they are in the car Cait says, “Thank you for coming, I hope it wasn’t too horrible.”

“No, your family is wonderful Cait, it was great. Even your brothers are cool after I realized they wouldn’t hurt me,” Niall says with a smile, bringing Cait’s hand to him mouth with a kiss. 

“I guess we need to get used to meeting each other’s friends and family, huh?” Cait asks. 

“Yeah, and it is going to be crazy, I have to warn you.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall takes Cait golfing for the first time. Hilariousness ensues and Louis and Cait get to know each other better.

One thing Niall has missed is playing golf. His need to be on the greens is as strong as Cait’s need to be in the pool. He texts Harry and asks if he would be willing to join him for a tee time. Thinking that he would invite Cait and hopefully Louis will come along and they can keep each other company while they play. 

When Harry texts back that Lou and he would be down, Niall calls the club to arrange and tee time and texts Cait. 

“But I don’t know how to play golf.”

“That’s okay, neither does Louis. Ya’ can hang out while H and I play.”

“Sure, but what’s the etiquette, I’ve nothing to wear.”

“I’ll take care of it.” 

Niall is looking forward to buying Cait a golf outfit. It is the first time she has let him buy her anything beside food. 

The morning they are to leave, Niall gives Cait a gift bag with a golf shirt with Modest Golf embroidered on it, a golf skirt and shoes. 

“I hope it is the right size and if the shoes hurt, just put on some runners.” 

“Very brave, that a boyfriend’s first gift is clothes,” Cait says before opening the gift. “Oh Ni, I love the color, let me go put this on.”

Niall chose a blue top to bring out her eyes and when Cait comes back, he nods approvingly and whistles. He is enjoying the view of her legs. 

“You look so good, I love blue on you, it is definitely your color,” he says kissing her.

“I have to say, I’m impressed that everything fits. Not bad for a guy and thank you, it’s comfortable. So, are you going to teach me to play golf or am I your arm candy?”

“Whatever you want luv. Are you excited to meet Haz and Lou in person?” 

“I’m am. I feel like I’ve gotten close with Harry and it will give me a better opportunity to know Louis.” 

Niall is enjoying holding her against him and running his hand up her leg and under her skirt. “Oh, is that why you gave me a skirt, you hooligan,” Cait asks. 

“Maybe, plus I like the view,” he says kissing her again with a smile. 

The two head out after their little make out session and meet the boys. Once in the car, Niall, without thinking reaches for Cait’s hand and brings it to his lips. “I kind of feel like this is our first official date.” 

Cait turns and smiles, “I guess in a way it is, and you are taking me to play golf. This could be our last date.”

“Never.” 

When the two pull up, Harry and Louis are already there and Harry runs up and hugs Cait like a long-lost friend. 

“It’s so nice to meet you in person,” Harry says and pulls back, “And I have to say you are even more gorgeous in person as well.” 

Harry looks at Ni, “Only you would find a lady during quarantine and one so perfect.” 

Cait smiles, used to Harry by now, “Stop Harry, I feel the same way.” 

They break apart and Louis comes up and hugs her, “Hiya Luv, Harry isn’t wrong, you are beautiful, too beautiful for Niallers, I think.” Then whispering, “I hope he knows how lucky he is.” 

“I think he does, but then so am I,” Cait responds quietly with fond smile. 

“Don’t tell him that, we don’t want him to get a big Irish head,” Louis responds. “So, I guess we are the extras today, watching the professionals.”

“I’ve actually never tried golf, so Niall said he would teach me.” Cait lowers her voice so only Louis can hear, “Don’t tell Ni, but I find it incredibly boring, I would be down for a match of footie any day.”

“Oh, I love you even more. We are going to get along just fine,” Louis says. “I’m with ya’ on that.

“You all get that golf cart, I’m sharing with my new best friend,” Louis calls to Harry and Niall as he slings his arm around Cait’s shoulders and they walk to the cart. 

“Well, I guess it’s you and me mate,” Niall says to Harry as they watch the two drive off. 

“That certainly didn’t take long,” Harry says with a smile. 

“She does that, I’m finding. It’s part of her charm.” 

“So, how are things going with you two?”

“Let’s just say I’m falling more and more in love with her every day.”

The four arrive at the first hole and Niall can tell Cait feels out of her element, but she doesn’t say anything. The day was becoming warmer and Cait was applying sunscreen and offered it to the boys. Louis and Niall took her up on it, but Harry says he tans. She just looked at him, knowing he is going to burn. 

Harry, Niall, and Louis all tee off and Cait watches them closely. When it is her turn, Niall grabs the club and shows her how hold it and swing. They all watch her take some practice swings and she looks up at them. 

“Okay, I think I’m ready, but you all can’t laugh if I completely make a fool of myself,” Cait says. 

The boys shake their heads and give her an encouraging smile. 

Cait walks up and tries to remember everything Niall told her. Inwardly, she is repeating, don’t mess up, don’t mess up, don’t mess up. These are Ni’s friends and she doesn’t want to be the sucky girlfriend. 

She takes a deep breath and steps up to the ball and decides to just go for it. Much to her surprise, she feels the club connect with the ball and as she follows through, she closes her eyes. 

“Holy hell!”

“Fuck me!”

“Damn!”

She hears the boys say and then a whistle. Cait cracks open an eye and doesn’t see the ball, she opens her other eye and looks at the boys. “Did I do okay?” she asks. 

The look of pure innocence on her face brings a huge smile to Niall’s face.

“I think ya’ did luv,” and he gives her a kiss on the nose. 

“Well, Niall, only you could find a girl who just hit the shit out of the ball her first time,” Harry says. 

Cait looks at them, confused. 

“Luv, you probably hit that 200 meters down the green and managed to stay in the middle. That’s impressive,” Niall tells her.

“Wow, okay, now what do I do?” Cait asks.

The boys just laugh, “we go and hit it again,” Harry says as they walk to carts. 

“I hate you right now, I didn’t want to be the only one who sucks at golf. You sure you haven’t played before?” Louis says. 

“I’m just as shocked as you are,” Cait says. “Besides, it’s still early. I don’t have the patience.”

“You’re after my own heart, that’s how I feel. We’ll have to liven it up then,” Louis says with a laugh. 

Cait may have done well with the initial tee off, but after that, she completely stunk it up, but then so did Louis. She didn’t have the patience for the shorter shots, she wanted to just hit the shit out of the ball. Cait was becoming frustrated and every time she tried to putt, she overshot and would release a frustrated breath. Niall thought she looked adorable.

“I think golf may be like singing for me, it’s just not going to happen,” Cait said. 

Harry teased her that she lacked finesse in the short range. When she asked about Louis then, Harry just said he sucks. 

Cait enjoyed watching her boyfriend though. He had a real talent and he was so relaxed when playing. Both he and Harry were having so much fun and Cait didn’t have the heart to ask to sit it out. 

By the time they arrived at the sixth hole, Cait and Louis were goofing around so much and lost interest. Harry and Niall had a real game going. 

“Lads, you mind if Cait and I meet you back at the clubhouse? We’ll chat about you two over drinks and then we can all have lunch,” Louis says. 

“Sure, have fun. Take care of my girlfriend though,” Niall says, kissing her goodbye. 

“Thank you, I’m not meant to play golf,” Cait says. 

“Me either, I came along to keep you all company, but now we can enjoy ourselves in some air con and relax.”

Once they arrived at the clubhouse and settled in at a table in the bar area. Cait looks around and notices people watching them. This is the most public she has been with anyone from the band. She smiles and nods her head at them and they do the same in greeting. Louis says hello to a few people as well. Cait is a little nervous with Louis. He offers to order them pints, but Cait asks for water when Louis looks at her with a question on his face. 

“Can’t right now, I’m in training and have to lay off,” Cait said. 

“What are you training for that you can’t partake in the nectar of the gods?” 

“Just a triathlon.”

Louis chokes on his pint and starts coughing, Cait thumps him on the back a few times until he catches his breath. 

“You’re doing what?”

“A triathlon, it’s in September. Have to do the clean eating thing.”

“Man, you’re just like Haz, he is always on some kick or another like that.” 

“So, you still keep up with the sport then?”

Cait knows he is asking about her swimming. “Yes, just not only swimming this time.”

“Why did you stop? You were so close at the trials and then you kind of fell off the circuit.”

Cait looked at him with her eyes raised. “You did your research, why?”

“It started out that I wanted to make sure you weren’t some crazy fangirl that would hurt Nialler, but then I became intrigued. I remember watching you on the telly at Worlds, you were amazing.”

Cait thought a moment before answering, not sure she was ready to open up, but she remembered that Niall had told her about Louis’s family. 

Louis looked at her contemplatively, waiting, he knew she was good enough to go all the way, but then she disappeared. Something had to have happened. He watches her as she stares out the window.

“Sometimes you just lose the love for it, you don’t enjoy it anymore. The hours practicing, perfecting, being criticized or celebrated, put on a pedestal. The attention of being told you’re the next big thing, interviews, magazine covers, endorsements, the country is depending on you. The better you become, the more there is to criticize, the more they want a piece of you. After awhile everyone is doing all the taking and you wake up one day and there is nothing of you left. Nothing of the reason you started to begin with. It’s just a lot of pressure and somewhere along the way you realize you’re not doing it for yourself anymore, you’re doing it for others because they make money off of what you can do. It’s a machine and not for the love of the sport. . .” Cait trails off. 

He is watching her with his mouth now hanging open, several thoughts going through his head. Not only is she not some fangirl, she sounds just like them when they decided to go on hiatus. All those feelings she put to words, those are all things the band shared themselves. He looks up when she keeps going. 

“I was just a child when I made my first national ranking at 14 and was hailed as the next big thing, it just a lot you know? Then, my family went through some stuff and I realized what was important. Going into the Trials, I told myself that if I make it, I do the Olympics and retire. I had a full scholarship to swim in college anyway. When I came in third, I was relieved ya’ know?”

“But you swam in college and had a great career, you qualified for the Trials in 2016, why didn’t you go back? I remember reading that you were the top seed.”

“You definitely did your research, I’m impressed. But I didn’t need to go, I didn’t have anything to prove to myself. I knew I could do it and that was enough. University helped me find my love of the sport again and I wanted to teach and coach to pass that on. I slowly found those pieces I lost and put myself back together. Somewhere along the way, I started running and biking and now I do races for myself and only myself.”

Louis just stares at her. She is amazing, humble, and she gets it, like really, really gets it. Could she be more perfect for Niall? Their stories are so similar, only different areas of life. She is lost in thought and turns and gives him a sad smile. He wants to hug her, but goes for grabbing her hand instead, giving it a squeeze. 

“Cait, are you okay?”

“Yeah, funny how things come back to you, yah? I didn’t mean to unload. I think you are the first person I’ve told that too outside of my parents. Niall doesn’t even know all that.”

“I won’t tell him, but he needs to know sometime, don’t ya’ think? I think you are one of the strongest people I know, I admire your tenacity. That is some heavy stuff and to go through it at such a young age. I can’t imagine. I really respect you and you were an amazing swimmer.”

“Thank you, but I think you can. From what Niall told me, you all have similar stories. He told me about your family too. That isn’t easy, either, I know.”

Louis figured she knew about his mom and sister. “Thank you.” Then he starts to connect the dots. “Did something happen in your family?”

“Yeah, I lost my brother.”

“I’m so sorry, Niall never said.” 

“He wouldn’t, he is sweet that way. We don’t talk about it much, I’m still in the anger phase. Have been for years to be honest. Where are you?”

Louis looks closely at her because it is just too coincidental that she would say that, but only Haz and Lottie know how he feels about his sister and the circumstances as to why she died. 

“Me too,” Louis says softly. “Do you ever just want to beat the shit out of ‘em, but you can’t?”

“Yes, I could wring his neck if he was here. He left behind a beautiful daughter.”

“Did it happen around the time of the Trials?” The dots are starting to connect now, Louis thinks. 

“Yeah. We kept it out of the press. He has a different last name than me, so that helped. But that’s when I decided life is too short to not be happy. I walked away and never looked back. I guess I should thank him for that. Him dying gave me the courage to do that.”

“Cait, I think we are more similar than we thought. I feel like you just summed up the last eight years of my life. I miss my sister terribly, but I’m so mad that she was so stupid and how could I have not noticed? There is guilt too. Where is his daughter now?”

“With her mom, but I see her as often as I can. I have guilt, but I didn’t force him to make the decisions that he did. I had to absolve myself of responsibility, I think that was the hardest and that was when the anger came in. That he put me in the position to have to do that.” 

Cait looks at him and this time she squeezes his hand. “Well, aren’t we a lot, how did we get so morose so quickly? 

Louis chuckles, “I don’t know, but you felt a lot of them same things I did. But, you make it sound so easy. I wish I could be as optimistic as you.” 

“Don’t give me too much credit, why do you think I do race? It’s my therapy, honestly. But really, the past will only be your present if you allow it. Yeah, I went through a lot, suffered a tragedy, but those things don’t define who I am today. When it happened, yes, but it reminds me that I can go through a lot and still survive and find my piece of joy. I don’t use it as an excuse to not move forward.”

He is stunned, what she says make so much sense, he needs to mull over her words. But one thing is for sure, Cait is a rare one, an old soul, and needs to be protected at all costs.

“I think I just fell in love with you.”

“What? I think you may have a problem with Harry with that one, besides I’m taken.”

“You know, I was really skeptical when Niall told me about you, but I think he is the winner here. You are so wise, I might need to hire you as my therapist.” 

Cait looks at him and smiles. “To be honest, it has been nice to talk to someone who gets it. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories, but anytime you want to talk, give me a call.” It’s been nice Lou.” 

“Hey, hey mate, you stealing my girl? Niall says as he and Harry walk over to them. 

“Maybe, she is stealing me, ever think of that, lad?” Louis retorts. 

“Then, I think I may need to step in,” a very sunburned Harry says.

“That’s going to hurt tomorrow. Are you wishing for that sunblock now, Haz?” Cait asks with a smile. 

“Shut it, I’ll be tan, just you see.” 

The four of them laugh and settle down for lunch, enjoying each other’s company. The club they are at is exclusive enough that they do not need to worry about rumors being started. 

When it’s time to go their separate ways, Cait hugs Louis and tells him thank you for today. He says the same and tells her that they need to do weekly coffee chats or something. They agree and after hugging the boys, she heads towards the car, but not without chiding Harry to put some aloe on those burns. 

Louis hugs Niall and when they breakaway, “you better marry that girl, she is really something.” Niall looks at him and smiles, “that’s kind of the plan, Lou.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cait scares Niall a little and they discuss moving in together.

With plans in the works for all areas of his life and Niall working again, Cait keeps herself busy. During the day, she is in her flat or she will go work out in the middle of training for her upcoming triathlon. She meets with her swim team regularly to make up for lost training time as well. 

Niall only requests that she texts him when she leaves and texts him when she returns. Sometimes she is out for three to six hours, other times one to two. He doesn’t want to relive May’s accident and he appreciates the texts and he does the same for her on his runs. 

One night, he had made dinner and Cait hasn’t come up yet. Usually, she drops by between 4:00 to 4:30 to help him. He texted to tell her its ready, she didn’t respond. It stays on delivered. That feeling, that nagging feeling he has when something is off, makes an appearance then. Niall calls her and she doesn’t respond. He looks at the phone, now really worried. They share locations with each other, so he checks that and sees she is in the building. Maybe she has the music up and she lost track of time, he tells himself. But he has learned to trust that feeling, so he turns the stove off and heads to her flat. 

Once he lets himself in, he notices how quiet it is. Cait always has music playing, and the atmosphere seems off. He looks around and sees her keys by the door, so he knows she’s home. 

“Cait, Cait, luv, you home?” he calls out while walking into the flat. Everything looks right and when he looks over at the couch, his heart melts. There is his Cait, sound asleep. “So, she does exhaust herself,” he thinks to himself with a smile. To him, she is always going a mile a minute. 

When he walks over to her, he sees her phone on the table next to her, but his brow furrows when he notices she has her knee elevated, a now melted ice bag wrapped around it. “Oh, Cait, what did you do to yourself?” he whispers in concern. 

“Cait, Cait honey, wake up,” he quietly says while shaking her other leg. 

“Humpf, what?” she says opening her eyes and looking so adorable and sleep kissed. She sees Niall and lets out a sleepy, “Hi.”

“Hi, yourself,” he responds, leaning over to give her a kiss. 

“What time is it?” she asks. 

“It’s time for dinner, luv. When you didn’t come up and then didn’t respond to my texts or call, I got worried. Came down to check on you.” 

“Sorry I scared you, give me a sec and we can go up.”

“Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?” Niall places his hand gently on her injured knee. 

“No, let’s just say you’re not the only one with a bum knee. Overdid it today, I think.”

“How far did you run?”

“I did 20 miles and then biked 50, today was my long day.” 

Niall sits back, stunned, “Holy shit! No wonder your knee hurts.” 

Cait moves to get up and Niall hovers, pulling her up and holding her while she tests her knee. “It’s stiff, but I’m good,” she says. 

Niall doesn’t care, he bends down and scoops her up. “Ni, what are you doing?” 

He leans down and kisses her lips and then her forehead. “After that workout, you deserve to be carried.” 

Cait giggles and tightens her hold on Niall. She loves when he dotes on her and is going to enjoy the moment of being carried by him. She rests her head on his shoulder sighing while thinking how horrible her previous boyfriend was, he would never have done anything like this. How did she get so lucky?

“Penny for your thoughts.” 

She turns to him to look up at him, “I was just thinking how lucky I am to have you.”

“Ditto,” Niall says and leans down to kiss her. 

Over dinner that night, Niall asks Cait about her upcoming race. 

“I’m signed up for the Ironman in Weymouth on Sept. 1. I did it a few years ago and I wanted to do it again.” 

Niall spits out his drink, “You what?”

“Oh, I thought I told you I was doing a triathlon. That’s what all the training has been about.”

“Come here, you’re exasperating, you know that? You never told me it was an Ironman, just a race. Is that why Sept. 1 is on the non-negotiables?” he says as he tickles her. 

“Yeah, maybe. I kind of wanted you there, ya’ know, to see what I like to do. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. My mum accuses me of leaving the smart bits out of conversations.”

“I can think of a few times you have left the ‘smart bits’ out of conversations, luv. How long is an Ironman?

“180 kilometers.” Cait says as if it is a walk in the park. 

Not hiding his surprise, “Jesus Christ, is that all?”

“2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.22 mile run.” 

Niall just sits and stares at her thinking how fucking amazing she is. This is so out of his understanding, but he knows it’s important to her. 

What can I do to help?” 

“Nothing really, just know as we get closer, I will have longer training sessions. I’ve a schedule at home on the fridge.” 

“Okay, but promise me that you will let me take care of you if you’re hurtin’ again?”

“I’ll tell you; I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“And will you let me take care of you even when you have your long days?”

Cait nods her head and they talk more about the Ironman. Niall wants to see her schedule, so he can at least cook for her on those days and he realizes other than today, he hasn’t been to her flat in awhile, she always comes up to his. After what happened today, he doesn’t like not being near her all the time. 

Later that evening when they are in bed, Niall blurts out, “Move in with me.”

Cait rolls over and faces him. “What?”

“Move in with me.” He holds up a hand when Cait tries to speak. “Hear me out. You sleep here every night anyway, we eat almost all of our meals together, but we go up and down the elevator to do it. You were hurt today and I had no idea, what if it happens again and you can’t call me? Bits of you are already all over my flat anyway, let’s just combine homes.” 

Niall knows better than to mention it would also be cheaper, but he would lose his head. Instead he just looks at her, trying to read her face and wait on an answer. 

Cait knows that this is really important to Niall and she doesn’t want to hurt him. She has thought about them moving into together and she wants too, but there is a huge factor that plays into her making her decision. She sits up and turns toward Niall and looks at this adorable, lovable, amazing man that she would do anything for and says, “No.”

Niall’s eyes open wide and he feels hurt, but Cait puts her finger to his lips and says for one reason only. He thinks it’s because they are not married.

“I want to move in with you Ni, I’ve thought about it, but if I move in here, this will always be your place.”

“Okay, then I’ll move into your flat.”

“No, then that will always be my place.”

“I’m not following Cait.”

“I want to move in together, but not into either of our places. We’ve talked about the future and I see my future with you, but our first place together can’t be one of our current places, it needs to be a new place that we build together, that we create and decorate together. We have two different eclectic styles and combining them into your place or my place just won’t work.”

“So we can move in together, but in a new place?” Niall asks, the hurt he felt dissipating. 

Cait nods with a smile. “Ya’ like a new beginning, not a combining and making room for one or the other.”

“Okay, I can work with that, so we need to be hunting for a new place.”

“Yes, but it doesn’t make sense right now. You have the concert and then your tour. I have the triathlon and go back to school, we are going to be busy. I don’t want to be in our place alone while you are gone for up to two years on and off. Plus, this is near my work, I don’t think I would want to go too far from here especially with you being gone. I don’t mind moving up here before you go on tour, but when you are gone, I want to be in my flat. Make sense?”

“It does luv. I’m just happy that you want to move in together, let’s see what comes up and not stress about it now.” 

Cait agrees and they snuggle together once more before he hears Cait’s soft snores. Niall lays there thinking what he could do and then a thought occurs to him. He will need to call his estate agent in the morning.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall meets one of Cait's swimmers and he sees her do her thing.

Ever since Niall joined her that one day for a swim workout, he has been swimming with her. Cait wrote some workouts for him and he likes taking a break from running, plus it helps with his knee pain. 

Today, when they arrive at the pool, he sees some other swimmers there and keeps his head down, not knowing if he would be recognized or not. This is the first time they been when other people are there. Cait waves hello to them when the call out. 

They settle into their workouts and after an hour, Niall gets out, finished for the day. He knows Cait has swim practice after she is done and he wants to stay and watch. Lost in his own thoughts, he doesn’t hear someone approaching until they speak. 

“She’s something, isn’t she?” 

“Yeah, she really is,” he replies. 

“She swims about three to five kilometers, depends on time, she seems to never tire,” the guy says. 

“I’m finding that out,” Niall says.

“Coach is a beast. She says she will never have us do something that she would not be willing to do,” he says.

Niall looks over at the guy and realizes he is younger than he first thought. 

“Are you one of her swimmers then?” Niall asks. 

“Yeah, I’m Zach,” he says and put his hand out. Niall doesn’t see any recognition on his face, but decides to play it safe. 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ni,” he responds shaking his hand. 

“How’d Coach rope you into coming? We know to never challenge her to one of her workouts,” Zach asks. 

“Well, I she actually got me hooked on swim workouts. We’ve been working out together lately. I challenged her once and learned to never do that again, big mistake,” Niall laughs at the memory. 

“Yeah, it usually is. You aren’t so bad yourself though,” Zach says with humor. 

“It was fun, never really swam before. I enjoyed it,” Niall says. 

“You couldn’t have a better partner. Ya’ know she is doing the Ironman in September? That’s what she is training for, the team plans to go out and cheer her on,” Zach says, the pride evident in his voice.

“Yeah, she mentioned something about it,” Niall responds smiling remembering when she told him. 

“She invites us to train with her. I tried once, about killed me. A few others have too, they threw up afterward. No one messes with Coach now,” Zach says. 

“How long have you known her?” Niall asks. 

“I met her when I was 12, she coached the junior club team. When she became a teacher at Lancaster, she got the head coach gig and I transferred here to swim under her. Ya’ know she almost went to the Olympics?” Zach asks. 

“Ya, someone told me that once, but she never really elaborated on it,” Niall says thinking back to Louis and the conversation in Cait’s room. 

“Missed the cut, came in third. Always thought she should do it again. She qualified for the next Trials too, was top seed, but she declined, said she has more important things to do now. We are all a little bit in awe of her, really. I would do anything for her” Zach says. 

“Me too, Zach, me too,” Niall says, not missing the veiled warning in the final statement. 

“Zachary Wright McDonald are you running your mouth again and to a stranger no less?” Cait says as she walks up. 

Zach straightens up right away, “No Coach, and he is no stranger, this is Ni. I was just telling him what a badass you are.”

“Zach!”

“Sorry, what a cool Coach you are,” Zach says chagrined. 

“Go get ready for practice, circle them up and stretch,” Cait says. 

“It was nice to meet you, sir,” Zach says as he bows down and he takes off towards the other swimmers coming in. Niall hadn’t noticed them before, and slips on his hat. 

“I hope he didn’t talk your ear off. He prides himself in knowing me the longest and also has appointed himself as protector.”

“No, it was fine, after your brothers, I think I can take him. He was a fountain of information. Didn’t know you qualified for the 2016 Trials. He thinks the world of you though.”

“He told ya’ that did he? Wasn’t the right time for me. He is a talented swimmer.”

“Coach, want me to write the set on the board?” Zach yells.

“Well, practice is starting, you going to head out?”

“Do you mind if I stay?”

“Sure, but you’ll be bored out of your mind.”

All Niall can do is shake his head. She swam a 5K and now she is going to run a practice and doesn’t even appear tired. He goes and grabs himself a drink and sits up in the stands and watches. 

By the time practice is over, he has realized a few things. Her swimmers love her and she loves them. The respect is strong and they respond well to her. She works them hard, but is fair and corrects where needed. They kid her and she gives it right back. Seeing her this way, just adds to the already long list of why he loves her. He notices a couple of the swimmers looking up towards him and speaking to her. She looks up at him and gives him that beautiful smile that warms his heart and waves. He waves back and the some of the female swimmers do too. He laughs. 

After the swimmers head out, he comes down and they head out. 

“I enjoyed seeing you coach, luv. Those kids adore you.”

“Yeah, well, I adore them. They are great, most of the time. A couple of my girls asked who you were. They wanted to know if you were my new boyfriend.”

“What did ya’ say?”

“I said you were a very good friend and wanted to see me coach. I think they saw right through that, but if it gets out that to high school students that we are together, I’ll never hear the end of it.” 

“I get it. You were amazing by the way, with the kids and how you still had energy to coach afterwards is beyond me.”

“Well, there’s a cost, I’m starving and I’m going to let you pay,” Cait says with a cheeky grin. 

“Let me, huh? I suppose I could be talked into it, but it’s going to cost you too,” Niall says mischievously. 

That evening, Niall realized how much he enjoyed seeing a part of Cait’s life as he was falling asleep with her in his arms. He kisses her on her head and whispers, “I love you, Cait.” 

He smiles when he hears a soft “ditto.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cait attends on of the reunion concert rehearsals with Niall. She has a convo with Zayn.

Meetings and rehearsals start for the reunion concert and Niall invites Cait to come to one on a day when she has a light workout. 

They arrive at the facility and when Niall walks in, everyone greets him like he is an old friend. It impresses Cait that he knows everyone’s name, down to personal things, but she is not surprised. This is just the kind of man he is.

“There she is!” is all Cait hears before she is physically picked up and turned around. When her feet touch the ground, she is not surprised to see it is Harry. 

Laughing, she greets him with a warm hug. “I see your sunburn has turned into a nice tan,” she says. 

She greets Louis next and he hugs her and kisses her on the cheek, “how are you doing luv?” he whispers in her ear. Ever since their conversation at the country club, Louis and Cait speak often and text daily. He is becoming one of her closest friends and they have almost become each other’s therapists, friendship through tragedy and all that. 

Liam and Zayn hug Cait, “It is so great to be able to talk to you two in person and not through a computer,” Cait says to them. 

After catching up, the boys start to warm up for rehearsal and Cait asks Niall if she can take some pictures. He was hoping she would offer, smiling he says, “have at it, luv.”

Cait is enjoying being around the guys and watching them work. It is a new side of Niall that she has not seen before. She had watched a couple of 1D concerts on YouTube, just to get a feel for the guys and what she sees, shows that they are picking up where they left off. Antics, craziness, but seriousness as well. There is a joy there, a gleam in their eyes, showing how happy they are to be together. Cait starts walking around and taking pictures, hoping she can capture that. 

The boys run through their set list and then move to the side for each solo performance. Cait is taking pictures from different angles and is enjoying herself. It’s fun for her to do something she has never done before; discovering how to counter the stage lights and capture the right angles. 

At one point, she finds herself at the back of the stage. The boys are standing in a line and the stage lights are shining and she can only see a silhouette of the boys, Niall looks over his shoulder and spots her. His face breaks into a huge smile and he must say something because the other boys do the same and Cait snaps a picture. She checks her playback and smiles, liking how it came out. 

“That must be a good picture,” she hears.

Turning around, she sees a guy behind the drums, “You must be Josh, Niall has told me about you,” Cait says 

“That’s me, you must be Cait,” he says. “He has done the same.” “All good things, I hope?” Cait says.

“Yeah, yeah a lot of good things. Thought Ni was making you up to be honest. Nice to see he is not losing his mind,” Josh says. 

“Oh, he has lost his mind, but I’ll deal. You could say the same thing about me,” Cait says with a smile. 

“I doubt that, according to him, you’re perfect,” Josh says. 

As if on cue, the boys start playing their next song and Josh has to pay attention. He winks at Cait and she waves, but not before she takes a few pictures. 

By the afternoon, the boys are sitting on the edge of the stage, three have guitars and they are absently strumming some chords, but mostly they are just talking, reminiscing and enjoying being in each other’s orbit again. 

Cait, changed lenses and she is silently capturing the moment, but then she puts the camera down and decides that some things are just for them and need to be kept private. She finds a space off to the side, pulls out her laptop and uploads the pictures from the day to see what she captured. 

She hears the boys talk, but she tunes them out, lost in her own little world. 

“What you strumming there Niall?” Louis asks. 

“Just a little something I’ve been working on, it is about Cait,” Niall says with a smile. 

“Those are where the best songs come from,” Harry says looking fondly at him. 

“Seeing her and you in person, I’ve gotta say Niall, you two are disgustingly adorable,” Liam says. 

“Oh, they are, but that’s not a complaint. I love seeing Niallers so happy. It’s about time” Louis says as he puts his arm around Niall. “Besides, she is so personable and comfortable in her own skin. It doesn’t even phase her that we’re all famous.” 

Niall smiles at his mates’ comments. “You know after Hailee, I didn’t think I would find love again. I loved her, but not like this. With Cait, it’s more authentic. She is so honest and open with me; she says the hard stuff. She doesn’t want me to spend money on her because she is worried that people will say she is with me because of I’m rich and it will hurt me. Hurt me, not her. She makes me laugh every day and her heart, it’s huge. I watched her with her swim team, they adore her. She is also one of the strongest people I know and so selfless. I feel like a better man when I’m with her, almost like she is my missing half,” he finishes looking over at Cait and smiling when he sees her concentrating and biting her lip in that sexy way he loves. 

He looks up at the boys and they are all looking at him with knowing grins on their faces. 

“What?” he asks. 

“So, when are you going to pop the question?” Zayn asks. 

“I don’t know, want to get through this tour first and . . .” Niall stops abruptly and looks at the guys with wide eyes. “I . . . I . . . never really voiced that before.”

Louis squeezes Niall against him. “Calm down lad, we all knew it was coming. Honestly, you couldn’t find a more perfect girl in Cait. She completes you, we all see it. Heck, I even fell in love with her myself. If I wasn’t spoken for, you may have competition.” Louis winks at Niall.

“You do? Was it like that with you all?”

All the boys nod their heads with smiles on their faces. “Please don’t say anything, ‘right? I don’t want to spook her. We just now had the conversation about moving in together.”

“Ni, somehow I don’t think a lot spooks Cait. She didn’t even blink when she met all of us,” Harry says. “Now, let’s finish up.” 

“Cait, do you want to come over here and watch our last song luv,” Louis says. He knows they are playing “Home” and that was Cait’s suggestion. 

The boys start singing and Niall watches Cait the whole time and she him. When the boys finish, if Cait brushed a tear from her eye, no one said anything. She clapped and exclaims with a huge smile, “you all sound wonderful, the concert is going to be amazing. Kim is going to be so jealous that I experienced that.” 

The boys figure out a few more details and Cait is still going through the pictures. Zayn sees her sitting there and jumps off the stage to sit with her. He really has never had a chance to talk to her one on one. 

“It means a lot that you are here, I want you to know that,” he says. 

Cait looks up at that and smiles warmly.

“I was flattered he asked me, really. This is his happy place and I’m thankful he wants to share it with me. Honestly, I think it is all of yours by the smiles.”

“It hasn’t always, but I’m finding that it is again,” Zayn says contemplatively. 

“When one loves something and then loses it, one always seems to find their way back; only this time with more knowledge, experience and a voice to tell others they are doing it on their own terms,” Cait says. “It means more the second time around, I think.”

Zayn looks sharply at her, seeing her lost in thought, he studies her because her insight is spot on, almost like she is in his head. “You seem to know what you are talking about,” he says softly. 

Cait startles and looks at him responding softly, “Unfortunately, yes.”

He doesn’t know why, but he feels like he needs to touch her, provide her some comfort. Zayn takes her hand and puts it between his and squeezes. “Niall says you can see into his soul, I think I just saw what he means. You are one insightful woman.”

“No, just lived a lot in a short time. I’m sure you can identify with that. If you ever want to talk, let me know, but I want you to know that it is very special that you are here with them. Thank you for doing so, I’m sure it can’t be easy.”

Zayn is unsettled for a moment and he realizes at that moment that this woman is perfect for Niall and he will do whatever he can to protect her. He smiles at her thanks and hugs her, “You’re one amazing woman, Cait.”

“Thank you.” 

“I saw you taking pictures, Niall says it’s a bit of a hobby for you, but I saw you put the camera down when we were on the edge of the stage. Why?”

Cait thinks before responding, “sometimes part of being a photographer is knowing what not to capture, what is invasive. That moment was for you all up there and nobody else.”

Zayn nods his head and smiles at her and hugs her one more time. If he had doubt about Niall and her, he doesn’t now. Her compassion and insight makes her an old soul.

Shortly after, Zayn and Cait walk up to the stage and Niall looks between the two of them and sees Zayn’s genuine smile. He immediately knows that Cait has worked her magic on him. The boys break up shortly after that and when Zayn hugs Niall goodbye, he whispers, “Ni, marry that girl, don’t let her get away.” Niall just smiles and nods his head, that’s the second mate who has told him that. 

Cait and Niall head home, picking up some dinner on the way. 

“I enjoyed watching you all today, that was really special. Thanks for inviting me.”

“It felt good to be up there, seems like we just were there to be honest. What were you and Z talking about?”

“Happiness and finding it on your own terms.”

Niall looks at her sharply, “he spoke to you about that?” 

“Not in so many words, but yeah. He is at a good place in his life. I thanked him for doing the concert with you all, we agreed to go out to lunch soon.” 

Niall just shook his head; she is winning over all his mates. 

Later that evening, they were cuddled on the couch and Cait was editing the pictures from the day. Niall wasn’t really paying attention until one caught his eye. Then he started watching her. He shouldn’t be surprised, but she captured some amazing images and the look of pure joy on their faces is obvious, it even reaches their eyes. He loves the one Cait captured from behind the stage with them looking over their shoulders. Photographers can never get them to all look at the camera at the same time and she only took one shot, but it is perfect. He can’t wait to share it with the boys. 

“Cait, these are amazing luv, can you share them with me?” 

“Really, I’ve never done stage pictures before so it was a lot of trial and error. Have to say, I’m pleased with the results myself.”

“You should be.”

Niall finds the picture in the folder Cait shared later and texts it to the other guys with the link to the folder. Below the picture it says “Cover?” He knows the boys will know what he means.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cait's best friends meet Niall and there is a surprise.

As the reunion concert gets closer for Niall, he is busier than ever so Cait spends a lot of time at her place. Niall texts her often throughout the day, sending her his inner monologue on interviews and people he meets. It brings a smile to her face for sure, his life is so different than hers that sometimes she just shakes her head; especially when he tells her about his day when they are cuddled together in bed. The famous people that he runs into, she has no concept of other than what she reads or sees on TV. But her life has changed too, if you were to tell her at the beginning of March that she would regularly text and visit with the members of a world-famous band, much less be madly in love with one and he, her, she would have thought it was a joke. 

One free evening, Cait finally had her two best friends over for dinner so they could meet Niall, as a surprise, she invites Harry and Louis over for dessert and to play some games. Bella and Dani are starstruck with Niall at first, but over dinner and wine, Cait is happy for them to see Niall as just a normal guy who has an unusual job. 

“I have to admit when Cait told me that she was dating you, I thought she lost her mind,” Dani says. Bella adds, “Yeah, we thought the self-isolating was getting to her and we needed to do an intervention.” 

Niall laughs, “Well, my mates thought the same to be honest, it’s almost too good to be true, but I’m so glad it is.” Both girls observe Niall looking at Cait with such love and adoration that they exchange glances, smiling. “So, Cait never told me how you all met,” Niall says when he looks up. 

Bella precedes to tell him about Cait and her meeting in primary school and he loves hearing about all the antics they got up to growing up together. Dani shares that they met each other in middle school through orchestra and the three of them became best pals ever since. 

Looking at Cait, “You never told me you played in the orchestra.” “Surprise,” Cait responds. All Niall can do is shake his head. 

“Well, I wouldn’t say she played, she quit when the instructor wouldn’t let her play what she wanted,” Dani replied. Niall just laughed because that sounded like his Cait. 

“You all stayed in touch during uni then?” Niall asks.

“Of course, when Cait signed with Loughborough to swim, we tried to see her when our schedules matched up and she came to see us. Plus, Loughborough was in the middle and we always had our breaks,” Dani informs him. 

“And you went to Cambridge?” Niall asks. “Yes, she did, she’s the smart one of the bunch,” Cait says with pride. “What do you do now?” Niall asks. 

“I work for a mechanical engineering think tank that is contracted by the Ministry of Defence,” Bella says. “I feel like you know country secrets,” Niall says. “I may, but if I do, I can’t tell you,” Bella says with a smirk and a wink. “But don’t be a mistaken for a minute that I didn’t fully do a background check on your Mr. Horan. I needed to know who my sister was going on and on about.” 

“Bella!” Cait exclaims, turning to Dani. “Did you know about this Dani?” 

“Whose idea do you think it was, C?” Dani says with a smirk. 

“I’m so sorry Ni, I didn’t know my ex-friends would be so invasive,” Cait says glaring at the two girls. 

“No worries, comes with the territory, I think. Besides, Lou did the same thing as you know. It just means they love you,” Niall says. 

“See, he gets it. Sorry Niall, it’s just after the last dickhead, we aren’t letting just anyone into our Cait’s life,” Dani says. 

“I would expect nothing less then,” Niall says seeing the Cait’s becoming a little uncomfortable with the conversation. This is the third time he has heard someone mention Cait’s previous relationship and it is making him curious. 

Trying to change the subject, Niall turns to Dani, “and you went to Swansea? Niall asks Dani. “Yes, now I work at the Royal London.” 

“How was it during the quarantine?” Niall asks, but he quickly sees Dani’s whole mood change and feels bad. “You don’t have to talk about it,” he says.

“No, it’s okay. It was one of the hardest things I have ever gone through to be honest. Patients with no family with them was the worse and those that died alone, that was the hardest. The long hours were hard as well, but the town’s support makes it worth it,” Dani softly says. 

“Thank you for all you did,” Niall says. 

“Thank you, I happen to know that we were the recipient of some of your donations, along with some of the guys in the band, it made it better knowing we weren’t alone,” Dani says. 

“It was the least I could do.” 

Cait is listening and knows that this topic is touchy for Dani. She expected no less from Niall and it seems her girls like him. They need a mood changer right away. 

“Well girls, I have a surprise and you have to promise to not lose your shit and be cool, okay?”

Both girls look at each other and just nod, not knowing what Cait has up her sleeve. Cait smiles at Niall and he helps her clear the dishes and brew some tea. Like clockwork, the doorbell rings and Cait asks them to get it. Cait looks at Niall and smiles when she hears “Holy fuckin’ shit, you’re Harry Styles and you’re Louis Tomlinson.” Leave it to Dani to state the obvious, a self-proclaimed biggest fan. 

“Right you are luv, you must be Dani and you must be Bella, we’ve heard a lot about you,” Cait and Niall hear Louis say. “He knows our name Bells, OMG! I think I’m going to faint.” 

“We better go rescue them Ni,” Cait says with a smile. “I like your friends, they care for you deeply,” Niall tells her as they walk over. “Thanks for putting up with them, now we need to rescue the guys.”

“Girls, let them in, where are your manners? Harry, Louis, thanks for coming, sorry about that,” Cait says as she kisses and hugs the couple. “Thank you for coming and don’t mind my friend, she had a 1D bedroom.” Cait laughs and rolls her eyes while Dani gives her a look.

Cait had forewarned the couple to be prepared for some fangirling. Once everyone was settled on the couch and Bella and Dani kept staring, Dani especially at the two and looking from them to Niall and then shaking her head to herself. 

“If you had told me that I would be in a room with three of the five members of my favorite band, I would ‘ave said you’re a filthy liar. OMG, pinch me Bells,” Dani says while the boys sit there while Cait serves dessert and tea. Not one to miss an opportunity, Bella pinches Dani saying, “Get your shit together, you’re embarrassing.” They all had a laugh and the ice was broken. 

Harry, ever the one to make people feel comfortable says, “I’ll tell you what, you have five minutes to ask us anything and then let’s enjoy ourselves.”

“Oh, really, okay, um, um, let me think . . .” Dani says. “Your time is wasting, hurry it up,” Bella the pragmatist says. 

“Okay, so, stating the obvious, Larry is real and you were not trapped in LA?” 

The guys both nod their heads, Harry answering, “I was, but was able to get out in time.” 

“I knew it!!!” Dani says pumping her fist in the air, “my sister owes me 20 pounds!” 

“Who is your favorite bandmate?” “Niall.” “Zayn.” “Liam.” “Harry.” “Louis.” The guys say at once. 

The girls all laughed at that, “okay then, so it’s equal then, good to know,” Dani says. 

“So that was Clifford in the background during the radio interview?” 

“Yeah, he escaped the room he was in when I went to check on him,” Louis says. “That was fun,” Harry says with a grin. 

“What’s your favorite song from the band?” 

“Infinity for me,” replies Harry. “No Control and Little Black Dress,” Louis says. They turn and look at Niall. “Stockholm Syndrome or Girl Almighty, for me.” 

“You all said two, I want to say two,” Harry says. “God, then say two Hazza, no one is stopping you,” Louis says. Everyone turns and looks at Harry. “Well now, I don’t want to say anything,” Harry says. 

“For fuck’s sake, Haz, now it’s just awkward, you’re embarrassing us in front of Cait’s friends,” Louis says giving Harry an exasperated look. “See what I deal with every day.” 

Bella and Dani are watching the exchange with wide looks and Cait and Niall are used to this and just start laughing. 

“Okay, so I love Home,” Harry says quietly. “We bloody knew that,” Louis all, but yelled. 

“Just like when we were on tour, seems like old times,” Niall says with a smile. He clears his throat and both guys look at him. 

“You are cuttin’ in on my time Mr. Styles and Mr. Tomlinson,” Dani has the nerve to say. 

“Continue Luv,” Louis says. 

“So, when did Larry begin?” 

“During the X-Factor.” “But you all broke up in there didn’t you?” “We did take a break, but it turned out we were meant for each other and there were other factors too,” Louis says. 

“Umm, okay. So, is it true that your two albums put together tell a story and go together?”

“Yes and no, it wasn’t on purpose, it just sort of happened,” Harry responds. 

The awwwwwwwssss in the room made Cait smile. She wasn’t completely following the story.

“So, what was going through your head when Niall told you about Cait?” Dani asks switching gears so fast that Cait and Bella looked at a little shocked. 

“You don’t have to answer that,” Cait says giving Dani her look. “Ya’, like the other questions were not invasive enough?” Bella says with a laugh. 

“Well, to be honest, I thought she was some stalker, crazy fan that would shatter Nialler’s heart to pieces,” Louis says. “And after listening in on his Insta Lives and hearing him talk about their conversations, I thought that this could be fate and I pushed Niall to go for it.” 

“This is why Harry is my favorite,” Cait says cheekily. 

“Hey, what about me?” Niall says. “You have my heart, Boo,” Cait says kissing him. 

“What about me?” Lou pouts. “You’re my favorite too, Lou, just don’t tell Haz,” Cait winks at Louis and looks at her watch. 

“Your fangirl time is up, Dani. Let’s play some games.”

The entire time, both girls are watching Cait’s interaction with the boys with raised eyebrows, not really believing this is their Cait; of course, they shouldn’t be surprised. 

Everyone fell into an agreed upon game of charades, playing boys vs. girls. When Dani had koala, she jumped on Cait and laughed when only the boys knew what she was referencing. They all were enjoying themselves and hurting their stomachs with laughter. A few bottles of wine later, Cait was seeing her best friends out after calling them a taxi. 

“He is so lovely, Cait. You two are perfect together, I needed to see it for myself. I’m really happy for you,” Bella said. 

“What she said and his mates aren’t bad either, more down to earth than I thought. But honestly, thank you for tonight, I will never forget it,” Dani said. 

“You’re welcome and remember, you can’t say anything about the sweet couple in there,” Cait said. 

Both girls make a locking motion on their lips and hug goodbye. “You should marry him C, he is perfect for you,” Bella says before walking down the hallway.

Harry had been looking around the living room since Cait had walked the girls to the door. He is really intrigued with Cait’s pictures. Niall explains some of them that he knows and Harry, who always loves anything different nods his head as Lou points out different elements and style. These are better than some of the exhibits Harry has seen in galleries. “She’s really talented, Ni,” Harry says and Lou nods in agreement. “We made the right decision.”

“I know, she continues to amaze me,” Niall says. 

“An athlete, teacher, intelligent, coach, photographer, who hardly knows anything about the band and is absolutely beautiful. I have to congratulate you Ni,” Louis says. 

“I’ll take it, but I think it was meant to be. We are both learning about each other together, not like she knows everything about me and I don’t know about her. It’s like we are equal footing, it’s refreshing, ya’ know,” says Niall. 

When Cait walks back into the living room, Harry and Louis are standing in front of her photo wall. She makes eye contact with Niall and he looks at her with such pride, it gives her warm fuzzies. 

“Cait, your place is wonderful. I love your style and these pictures are amazing,” Harry turns to her and says. 

“Definitely bangers, luv. Ni wasn’t kidding when he said you’re were wicked talented,” Louis tells her. He then looks at Niall and Harry and they nod in understanding. “We want to show you something though, come sit down.”

Cait looks at them, confusion evident across her face. “You know Niall shared the pictures you took at rehearsal and there is one that the guys all loved,” Louis explains as Harry takes out their reunion album and places it on the coffee table. 

“Oh my god, OH MY GOD! You want to use my picture? Really?” Cait says putting her hand over her mouth. The cover is the picture of the band that Cait took from the back of the stage where they are looking over their shoulders. 

Niall pulls her into him and puts his arm around Cait saying, “Luv, we are all in agreement and felt it captured us, who we are now, ten years later. What do you say? Do you give us permission?” All Cait can do is nod her head, she is so shocked. 

“We need you to sign a release and we will pay you of course. We were also wondering if you would come out and take some more pictures of us. Along with the ones you already took, we want to use them in the concert. You have a rare talent Cait and all the boys loved your pictures. Zayn wouldn’t stop going on about it, as well as the respect you show when taking them,” Harry says. 

“I’m so flattered, I would love for you to use them and you don’t need to pay me anything. Really, I’m so happy I could do something for you all and tell me when you need me and I would love to take more,” Cait responds excitedly. “Other than training, my schedule is free.”

“Luv, let us pay you, this is going on the album, this is a huge deal,” Louis says. 

“I’ll tell you what, I would love the photo cred, but donate what you would pay me to my school, there are students there that could use it,” Cait says. 

Niall could not be prouder of Cait, her giving heart, “If that is what you want luv, we will do that.” Niall leans over and hugs her. 

Harry looks at Cait with so much love and affection, she is so pure and loving; perfect for Niall and he mentally makes a note to make a donation to her swim team as well. 

“Haz, Lou, thank you for putting up with Dani. It means a lot that you wanted to come over and meet them,” Cait says. 

“No worries, luv. We wanted to meet your friends, who is important to you is important to us,” Louis says. 

Cait appreciates that and nods with a smile. The four hang out some more and Niall walks his friends to the door when it starts getting too late. “I appreciate you coming, it means a lot,” Niall says. 

“No problem, Ni. Thanks for having us. You’ve got one special lady there and her friends are a hoot,” Harry says as he walks down the hall.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Cait have a talk.

Cait is living the life of a teacher in mid-summer, training most days. During her runs, she often reflects on how her life got to this point; she was perfectly content to be by herself. Harry and her text often, sharing recipes, interesting pictures he thinks she might like, or interesting stories. It has kind of become a thing for Louis and her to send inappropriate stuff to each other. They also like to make fun of their significant others as well, taking pictures and making them into memes. Zayn started sending her inspiration stories and quotes and she started sending some she found. They call it their “daily dose of happiness.” Sometimes she feels like she needs to pinch herself because has fallen so seamlessly into friendships with them. Liam is the only one that she doesn’t know as well, but they still text, mostly sports analogies, but most recently talking about the Michael Jordan documentary. It’s a whole other family that she didn’t know she needed wrapped around an amazing man that now owns her heart. 

The boys’ girlfriends and Cait are also in a group chat. They formed it after the first couple of Zooms together. If one had told Cait that she would be texting with two famous models, she wouldn’t have believed it. They talk a lot about the guys and surviving their quirks, and she has fun and getting to know them better. Cait smiles, thinking of how much she has gained and counts herself lucky. 

Cait saves her long runs for Friday and is biking, swimming or running on the other days. It was on one of these days that she heard her name being called as she was running through the park. She stops and turns and smiles when she sees Harry jogging towards her. 

“Fancy seeing you here,” he says hugging her. 

Cait looks behind him and says “How did you get out, shouldn’t there be some fan girls chasing you?” 

“It’s funny, when you do ordinary things, you are the least likely to be recognized, plus I got my guy back there.” Cait looks back again and sees a massive man in jogging clothes, she smiles and waves, but he just nods his head in acknowledgement as he continues to look around on alert. 

“Is he the one you hired after what happened in February?” 

“Ni, told you about that huh?”

“Yeah, you scared the shit out of him and he was mad that you didn’t give up your phone, but then he wasn’t surprised. Said only your hard headed ass would be the one to throw your phone in a pond.”

“I had all my songs, recordings and bit of lyrics on there, I just couldn’t you know?”

“I get it, I’m glad you were okay. You jogging this way, want to join me?”

“Sure, I’d love to, how far we going? Lou told me your training for a triathlon, that’s impressive.” 

“Thanks, today is my nine, I’m about four in, you good for it?”

“That’s a bit far for me, but I’m up for the challenge.” 

The two begin jogging together and talk on and off. When they are not talking, there is a comfortable silence between them. Eventually, they slow down to walking. 

“You did really well for not being used to this distance.”

“Thanks, it was actually really fun, I liked pushing myself.”

“I may get you in a race yet,” Cait says punching Harry in the arm. “You can always join me, I love the company.” 

“I will have to take you up on that, Louis hates exercise and mainly sticks to the gym.” 

The two walk over to a bench to stretch and Harry offers to buy them some waters from a nearby stand. When he comes back, they sit down at a table in the park. 

“So, how did you manage to get away today? Ni has been so busy with the promos and what not.”

“I didn’t like that things were getting so hectic that I couldn’t take care of myself, so I said I was going out. My manager, didn’t like that much, but this time I’m doing this on my own terms.”

“Niall has said the same thing. I kind of gathered that you all were on a leash the first go around.”

“That’s a nice way of putting it. I think this pandemic has helped me realize what’s important and slowing down and enjoying the process means more than riding the wave of fame. I think the fans will be there regardless of the timeline.”

“Interesting way to see it, but it makes sense. Are you going to go out on tour again?”

“Yes, but I think Louis and I are going to try to do it together or coordinate our dates so we can perform in the same cities.”

“What does that mean for the public you and him?”

“Well, the fans already have it figured out, so I think it is only a matter of making it official and then moving forward and finally living our lives how we want to.”

“That’s really brave.” “Or really stupid, but I’m so tired of not truly being myself when that is the message I send to fans, I feel like a bit of a hypocrite.”

“Or, speaking from experience and wanting your fans to not follow down your path.”

Harry thinks a moment nodding, “True, I know deep down it will be okay.” 

“It will, if you do it on your own terms.” 

“Lou said you had some experience it that department. After our golf date, he told me about your conversation. Seems you understand more than most.”

“I do, and finding your terms is the hardest part. Making that jump and not regretting it.”

“Do you, regret it?”

Cait knows what he is referencing and doesn’t respond right away, carefully thinking about her answer. Instead she answers with a question. “Do you ever get tired of it all?” 

Harry looks at her, “yeah, sometimes, I don’t think it is worth it. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to go on hiatus, but then I can’t imagine doing anything else. Going solo has been really healthy for me, but I’m still answering to someone else. That’s what I loved about the second album; it was all on my own terms.”

“Well, that’s my reason. Success on your own terms is better than if it is on someone else’s. I feel like I’m more successful now than back then because of one important aspect.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m happy. I’ve found my joy and I pursue my passion. Are you happy?”

Harry sits back a moment, thinking. No one has really asked him that before. “I think so, at least I’d I like to think so.”

“What brings you joy?” 

“Performing, writing music, being with Louis, my family.” 

“Why performing?” Cait raises an eyebrow. 

Harry thinks for a moment before responding, “I love bringing people joy, putting smiles on their faces, seeing them identify with the lyrics, the lyrics I wrote about things in my life.”

“That makes sense, but would you still be happy if you didn’t do it anymore?”

“That’s a little harder to answer, I think I would be, but the last ten years I have been in music in some way, it would be hard to not do it anymore. I don’t really know anything else to be honest.”

Cait listened nodding in understanding, “If you weren’t in music, what would you want to do?” 

“There’s a few things, really. A physiotherapist, music therapist, or work with children in some way. I’ve always loved being around children and I could see myself making a career of it; maybe a music therapist for children. I don’t know,” Harry trails off. 

“Well, you kind of answered the question you asked me. I lost my joy, so I made changes and did something I always wanted to do, work with children,” Cait smiles at Harry. “And I still am in the sport, now as a coach, and as an athlete on the triathlon circuit. I never left it, I only changed how I participated in it, so I don’t have regrets. It was never about qualifying for the Olympics or winning a medal, it was about me. It just took me a little bit to figure it all out.” 

Harry was looking a bit gob smacked at Cait’s explanation. “You are a philosopher Cait. You’re so Zen about it all. I aspire to be like that.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I may appear that way now, but it took a bit to get to that point. And, you are one too. I saw the Zane Lowe interview.”

“Well, I was honest, but guarded in that. I like to keep my life private because so much of it is in public.”

“I don’t blame you,” Cait says reaching out and grabbing Harry’s hand. “Whatever you decide to do, know Niall and I are here to support you and remember, make sure you are a healthy happy.”

“I like that, a healthy happy.”

“Ah, we have incoming Harry,” the bodyguard tells them. 

Cait watches a look of disappointment slide across Harry’s face and then he schools it to greet his fan. 

A young girl walks up to them and they both smile, “Excuse me, but are you Cait Guion?”

Cait is just as surprised as Harry and Harry lets out a chuckle when Cait smiles down at the girl, “Yes, I am. What can I do for you?”

She has been asked before, but it is few and far between that she is recognized anymore.

“Um, can I have your autograph. I love your swimming and I follow you on the race circuit. My coach makes me watch your videos for training.”

“That sounds like a smart coach,” Cait says reaching for her pad and pen. “Are you a trihard too?”

“Yes, I do the minis. I hope one day I can do the Ironman like you, but I have to work up to it. Is it true you are ranked first for the September one.”

Harry’s face doesn’t hide the shock at hearing the young girl’s question. He had no idea that Cait doing that much less the top seed. 

“I don’t know about that, I don’t pay attention. You have to focus on the race and your training, not where other people place you, luv. Now tell me your name.” 

“Hannah.” Cait signs her tablet. “Well, Hannah, I wish you the best of luck and stay true to your training. Would you like a picture as well?” 

“Oh yes, please!” Cait looks at Harry and he takes the girl’s phone, feeling like he is in the Twilight Zone. What a reversal of what he is used too. After the picture, the young girl thanks them and tells Cait she is coming to Weymouth to watch her.

Cait looks up at Harry and the guard walks over, “Well, that’s a first, she put you in your place Harry.” 

They all break out in laughter at that and Harry can’t wait to tell Niall and Louis what happened. 

“Well, I feel like I have been and what’s this about you being top seed, in an Ironman no less. Did you trade one sport for another?

“It happens occasionally. I was interviewed recently in a sports magazine about it, so that could be why. I didn’t really trade. I took a break to settle into my career and then it just happened. I did it two years ago and did well and then did some other big races and did some interviews, it comes with the territory as you know.”

“Why do you do it?”

“I do it because pushing myself and seeing if I can beat my last time makes me feel good about myself. And the fact that I’m doing it on my own without a sponsor or a coach, means that if I am successful, it’s because I worked hard. If I’m not, then, well, experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”

“You’re so blasé about it.” 

“No, I think I’m matter of fact, really. I have nothing to lose, only gains.”

“There, that’s my problem. I think I have too much to lose.” 

“But do you really? At the end of the day, you have your health, your friends and family, your soulmate and your talent, those things will never go away.”

“Are you sure you’re not a psychologist because you are wise beyond your years, Miss Cait.” 

“Ha, never. Just lived a lot in a short amount time. Now, I’ve got to head back, which way are you going?” Cait says as she stands up. 

“Similar direction. I walk with you some, if that is okay? Besides I’m curious when are Niall and you going to make it official publicly?”

Cait nods and they start heading towards her building. 

“We haven’t really talked about it, to be honest. I figured someone would take a pic and then he would be questioned. He said that if we don’t want to be papped, we won’t, so we decided to let it happen naturally. The important people in our lives know and that is all that really matters.”

“You are really good for him. He is the happiest I’ve seen him in ages and I’ve you to thank for that.” 

“Well, you’re welcome, but I could say the same for him. His heart is pure gold.”

“This is where I veer off. I want to say thank you for talking to me today. You gave some great advice and a nice dose of humility,” he says with a chuckle. “I’m glad Niall met you because I gained a new friend because of it.” 

“Well, I feel the same, I see you soon.” They hug and say goodbye, but as she walks away, she turns around, she enjoyed the workout buddy and asks if Harry would like to join her again. “I would love too, text me the night before you are going and I can check my calendar.”

“Watch it, Styles. I’m going to make you a runner yet,” Cait says as she heads towards her building. Before she leaves, she waves at Harry’s bodyguard and wishes him a good day. 

“That’s a sweet girl there, Harry, who is she?” The guard asks. 

“That’s Cait, she’s Niall’s girl; I suspect his soon to be fiancé and sweet she is. I think she has Louis wrapped around her little finger and I'm almost there,” Harry says with a smile. 

He pulls out his phone texting the guys about his encounter in the park with the girl seeking Cait’s autograph. 

“You just got served some humble pie there,” Liam texts. 

"Fuck me, someone wanted her autograph over yours, I love it! Louis types.

“That’s some girl you got there, Ni, she showed up H,” Zayn responds. 

All Niall can respond with is a shocked emoji face and “I bet she won’t even say a thing.”

Harry just laughs and heads home.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cait meets Niall's parents in person, but not before a little cheeky moment takes a turn. ;)

One night during the week of the concert finds Cait and Niall hanging out on the couch relaxing after a hectic weekend. The concert is that Saturday. Niall’s parents are flying in on Wednesday and everyone is really excited. Their album drops Friday, the same night as the reunion dinner at Harry’s and Louis’s house. It is only going to get crazy from there and Cait knows that she will be meeting a lot of people who are important in Niall’s life starting with his parents. 

“Hey Boo,” Cait says. 

“Yeah?” 

“When your parents come, can we do dinner at my place? I want to make something for them.” 

“I don’t see why not, that is really sweet of you.”

“Well, I was thinking, they are going to be staying with you and I want to kind of show them who I am. Do you think that will be alright?” 

“Cait, mum already loves you and dad is just dad, but I think that is great.”

“Great, I’ll text them and invite them.” “Mum would love that.”

The next day, Cait starts planning what she wants to make and it this also motivates her to clean her flat, something she hasn’t felt up to doing in a few weeks. Since it is not her favorite thing to do, she loves to play her music and dance while she cleans and that is how Niall found her when he comes down bringing dinner. 

He stands watching, smiling at her antics especially when she sings into her dusting wand. He really likes when she is bending over and shaking her booty suggestively too. Enjoying the show, it doesn’t occur to him that she doesn’t know he is there until he starts singing, she lets out a scream and turns quickly to see him, her eyes open in surprise. 

Cait had no idea Niall was there or for how long, feeling like she has already made a fool of herself, she continues to dance and sing suggestively towards him while bringing him to the couch and pushing him back a little roughly. He likes it. 

“I'm a savage (yeah) /Classy, bougie, ratchet (yeah) /Sassy, moody, nasty (hey, hey, yeah)  
After each line, she moves closer to him with a wicked smile on her face. 

She goes for it, and starts giving him a PG version of a lap dance and Niall just watches, amused and becoming more turned on. As she grinds against him, he holds her hips, enjoying the view with her entire stomach showing when she raises her arms. He can’t help, but kiss her there. She returns by rubbing her breasts in his face and then bending down and kissing him. Trailing her kisses to his ear and nipping at his ear lobe as the song finishes.

“Hey now, don’t start anything you can’t finish,” Niall says through a moan.

This time she sits back on his lap and kisses him roughly. 

Niall is not going to lie, he loves that she is taking the lead and when the music ends, so does her kissing. She leans back with a teasing smile on her face, “Hi.” 

“After all that, you are just going to give me a ‘Hi’?”

“I need to finish dusting, your parents will be here tomorrow” Cait says as she goes to get up loving that she is being a tease. 

“You little minx,” he says as he holds onto her hand, not wanting to let her go. 

Cait squats down in front of him with her hands on his knees, giving him an innocent look.

In her best southern American accent, “Why, I do declare, I don’t know what you mean, sir.”

Niall would believe her if one of her fingers wasn’t now trailing over his zipper and the others caressing him through his pants feeling his arousal.

“Not going to lie, this is a better appetizer than I what I brought with me,” Niall says. 

Cait looks at him suggestively and when goes to move and all she feels is instant pain through her knee, almost as if someone stabbed her. She is familiar with the sensation and recognition dawns immediately as she sucks in her breath and yells “Fuuuuuuccccccckkkkk” as she falls backwards on her bum. 

Niall sees her face change instantly and registers her yelling, his pleasure instantly erased as he tries to grab her when she falls back. “What’s wrong?” he asks alarmed. 

Cait is concentrating on the pain, her hands on either side of her knee pressing to try to ease some of it. She is trying to not move her leg even though every instinct tells her straighten it, letting out pained noises and breathing through it. Niall is sitting next to her gripping her arm trying to figure out where and why she is acting like this. He is becoming more concerned by the second. “Cait, tell me what’s wrong,” he says more urgently.

“My knee, my ligaments, I have to put my knee back in the same position and then slowly straighten it for them to go back in place.” 

“What the fuck, Cait? That’s not normal.” 

“I know, but it is how it works.”

“Is this what happened when I found you with ice on your knee?”

All Cait can do is nod because the ligament is feeling more stretched and she just needs to suck it up and fix it, but she is not looking forward to the shock of pain she will feel. 

Niall sees that what Cait is getting ready to do and he can’t bare it.

“Stop, stop, don’t do this. Let’s go to A and E and let them do it.” 

Cait shakes her head slightly, “no, that will hurt more to jostle it on the way to the car. It needs to be stabilized. Let me do this and then I can ice it.”

“I know a thing about knees Cait, we need to go. Let me call an ambo and they can stabilize it.”

Cait is ready to cuss Niall out, she is waiting too long and she needs to get it over with. In the back of her mind she knows what Niall is saying makes sense, but she is also afraid of the recovery and it affecting her training. 

Scrunching her eyes tight and gritting her teeth she uses her hands to move her knee back into place. Niall watches, helpless seeing the ligament move, his heart clinching as she screams out and then collapses back on the floor, tears leaking from eyes. 

“Oh Cait, hun . . .” Niall trails off, very upset by what he just witnessed. His hands moving over her body, but not touching, afraid he will hurt her. 

“Give me a sec, the pain is lessening,” she says as she starts to sit up and Niall helps her. 

“That was awful, let me take you to a doctor about this. I know a good one who worked on my knee.” 

“No, it’s a torn ligament, but it is still connected. When it happens, it’s slipped to the side and I just need to get it back in place. The last doctor I saw said there is nothing he can do about it until it tears completely.”

“Then it is time for a second opinion because that was fucking awful.” 

Cait gingerly moves her knee and find there is only a little stiffness. “Help me up.”

Niall does and puts his hand around her waist as she puts her weight on it, not completely sure they are out of the woods yet. 

“See, there, almost as good as new,” Cait says as she walks stiffly towards the kitchen. When she rubs the tears away from her eyes, he doesn’t say anything. But Niall is really upset with what he just witnessed; she is so stubborn-almost too stubborn for her own good. 

Cait is so frustrated with herself. She hasn’t had that happen to the extent it did for awhile. She angrily pulls open the ice box and grabs and ice pack and goes to sit down at the table. 

“Ni, it happens, let’s eat before it gets cold and let me ice this.” 

Niall brings dinner to the table, sets it out and doesn’t say anything. Cait can tell he is upset with her. She reaches over to grab his hand saying, “Please don’t be mad with me. That’s God telling me to never do another striptease again.”

That got Niall to smile at her and then he starts laughing. “Only you would hurt yourself while trying to turn me on, you’re a mess.”

“But I’m your mess.”

“Yes, you are and I would like to take my mess to see an ortho doc because I don’t want to see you go through that again. Please Cait, you owe it to me. I was really turned on.” 

Cait looks at him and deep down, she knows he is right. It is her fear that is keeping her from going and she looks at Niall, knowing she can’t say no to his Irish charm. “Okay, but on one condition, I will go now, but if he says I need surgery, it has to wait until after Sept. 1. I’ve dealt with this for about four years and it only happens when I hyperextend my knee past 90 degrees, I don’t do that during the race.”

Niall doesn’t like it, but from what he has learned from Cait, he knows this is the best he will get. 

“Deal,” he says and leans up and kisses her on the forehead. “But you still owe me a lap dance.”

“Help me finish cleaning my flat after dinner and you’ll get one,” she replies cheekily. 

Niall decided it was a good deal and just nods. 

The flat was cleaned very quickly after dinner that night. 

Niall wakes up the next day feeling great. His parents are flying in to meet the woman of his dreams, then the album release, the reunion, then concert. It is going to be hectic, but it feels good to be so busy again. He smiles when he hears Cait start to wake up in his arms and he kisses her on her forehead. 

“Time to get up luv, we have to head to the airport,” he says quietly. “How’s the knee today?”

“Ten minutes more. Its fine.” Niall loves sleepy Cait and decides to wake her up with kisses down her back. 

“What are you doing?” Her muffled question comes through the pillow. 

“Just a little wake up for my girl,” as Niall reaches over to kiss her breast. Cait lets out a groan, instantly responding to his touch. 

If they stayed in bed a little longer, no one was the wiser.

Niall’s record company hired a car for them to go pick up his parents. With the car came two bodyguards. This was the first time Cait had experienced this and it was a little different for her. The good news was that they didn’t have to fight to find a parking space. 

Niall is wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, hoping to not be recognized, when Cait and him get out of the car and head to baggage claim to meet his parents. He is excited to see them, it has been too long for him and the loneliness at the start of the quarantine didn’t help.

He is searching the faces coming down the escalator once they see their plane has landed. “There, there they are,” he says excitedly, gripping Cait’s arm and pointing. Niall maneuvers them so his parents will see him when they look up, but it won’t call attention to them. Of course, the bodyguard standing behind may have already done it. 

“There’s my baby,” Maura says coming towards Niall with open arms. “Hi mum, I missed you.” Niall says, taking in the comforting smell of home. Cait watches on with a smile and looks at Bobby.

“Hi, Mr. Horan, it is a pleasure to meet you in person,” she says putting out her hand. 

“Oh, call me Bobby please and it is nice to finally meet the lass who has swept my boy off his feet,” Bobby says smiling, pulling her into a hug.

“Well, I think the feeling was mutual sir,” Cait replies. 

By now Maura and Niall have broken away and Cait can see his eyes glistening with unshed tears. Maura turns her attention to Cait. 

“My, Cait, you are even more beautiful in person, let me look at you,” Maura says holding Cait’s hands. “You are a beautiful lass.” Before Cait can say anything, she has her arms filled with Maura and it is such a mum hug. She loves it. 

Maura turns to Niall, “how nice of her to come and meet us at the airport.” “She never thought twice about it,” he says. 

Niall knows Cait just scored some points with his mum. Greetings over, they pick up their luggage and head to the car. Thankful that no one notices them, but Maura keeps looking at Cait and smiling. 

Once they get to Niall’s flat, Cait graciously bows out and goes to hers to work on dinner and give Niall some alone time with his parents. 

“Niall, why is there not a ring on her finger, I thought for sure you would have proposed?” Maura asks.

“Mum, first off, don’t you think I would talk to you first about it? Second, we have spoken about it, but now is not the right time. We don’t know what normal is yet, outside of the pandemic and we have lots to figure out, so that is what we are doing.”

Maura kind of pouts at that, she relishes the idea of another daughter in law. Niall comes over and puts his hands on her shoulders, “Mum, it will happen and I would like for you to be there when it does, but trust me that neither of us are in a hurry and we want to do it right, on our own terms. Cait believes in a long engagement because that’s when you get out all the ugly stuff before you marry, we are both going to have to adapt to new things.” 

“Okay, smart lass. I trust ya’ lad. I don’t want her to get away.” 

“She won’t, so let’s get you all settled.”

Maura knew not to push and her son was done talking about it. They all settle in and enjoy the afternoon, until Maura can’t take it anymore so she texts Cait and asks where her apartment is located. She wants to come help, but really to visit. Cait responds quickly and says she would love for her to come down. Maura wouldn’t admit it, but she is pleased as punch that she can spend time with Cait, she never has had the opportunity to do so with any of Niall’s other girls. Sometimes she doesn’t even get to meet them. 

“Well boys, I’m going down to help your Cait, see you at dinner,” Maura announces. “You all enjoy watching your sporty things or whatever you want to do.” She gets up and leaves without a second glance. 

Niall and Bobby stare after her, Bobby shaking his head, used to her antics, Niall is a bit shocked. Bobby looks at his boy and with a smile, “Well, there is no doubt that your mum loves her. She is a fine lass, Ni, you did good.” 

That is high praise coming from his dad and all Niall can do is shake his head. Cait has wrapped another person in his life around her finger without even knowing it. He has to smile at that. 

When Maura shows up at Cait’s flat, she is immediately charmed by it. One can tell a lot by a person’s home and she loves Cait’s, saying as much. Maura asks Cait how she can help and they get to work. Cait knows better than to tell Maura to relax and they can talk, her mum is the same way. 

The two fall into a rhythm and really enjoy each other’s company. Cait loves hearing stories about Niall and they laugh a lot. Once the roast is in the oven, they sit down on the couch and relax. Maura looks over and sees a framed picture of Niall and picks it up smiling.

“Did you take this?” Cait nods. 

“You definitely captured him. All these pictures I see of him, he is always so guarded and there is a bit of a wall up, I think. No one would suspect unless you know him. This is lovely, you have a gift, in fact, you are a gift.” 

Cait doesn’t know why, but she tears up a bit at Maura’s confession, quietly she says, “he is a gift to me as well. You have raised a wonderful son.” The two hug and not that Maura had any doubt, she knows Cait is the one for her boy. The ladies spend the rest of the afternoon talking and enjoy themselves until it is time to call the boys down. 

Later, after beers, watching golf and of course a nap on the couch, Niall gets a text to come down for dinner and is not surprised when both of the women in his life greet him like they are old friends. Dinner is a wonderful affair and the four of them have a great time, Cait especially hearing stories of Niall growing up. The laughter, smiles and being together made the night special and Niall felt really lucky. It reminds Niall that he hasn’t heard from his estate agent and needs to find out if his plan for new living arrangements will work.


	11. Chapter 11

Waking up alone in bed for the first time in awhile was different for Cait. How quickly she had become used to having Niall next to her. She smiled and touched her lips, missing his morning kiss. She had a full day ahead of her, but she laid in bed reflecting on last night. 

Niall’s parents are lovely people and Cait can see where is charm comes from. Cait adores Maura and thinks she would get along great with her mum as well and the way things are going, it looks like they will. Knowing today was promo for the album, she has bowed out of the planned activities, not wanting to be in the way even though Niall said she wouldn’t be. She knows she will have to face it eventually, but she is not ready. He seemed disappointed, but honestly, the other girlfriends are not going, so it would look odd. She is looking forward to dinner tonight with the band and their families; with Niall, she has gained four brothers and good friends. 

Cait finally gets up and heads to the kitchen to find flowers, coffee and breakfast from Niall. Cait can’t help the feeling it brings her because of his thoughtfulness. She sees a note, “missed waking up to you, enjoy your training and I’ll see you tonight. I love you.” When she sees her breakfast, it is her typical training day diet. The extra effort is not wasted on her, and Cait texts him saying thank you with a few xoxoxo. “See ya tonight, I already miss you,” he responds.

With that, Cait gets ready for her training day and decides to go hard to keep her mind off of Niall, hoping everything is going well. 

Niall smiles at Cait’s text and pockets his phone as they go into another radio interview. When he looks up, Harry is smiling at him. “Cait text you?” He nods, “I can’t wait to see her tonight, do you know this is the longest I will be away from her?” 

“What’s it going to be like on tour then?” “I don’t know and I don’t want to think about it right now. It’s a ways off anyway since our tours are postponed until 2021.”

“It will be here before you know it, mate,” Louis chimes in.

Niall shrugs as they head into the next interview. He remembers why he gets tired of them, but knows it is a necessary evil of promos. Their concert at Wembley is already sold out and is going to be televised live, broadcasted throughout the world. 

“So, your album has been out for ten hours and do you know it is the fastest streaming album in the history of all streaming services?” The boys are shell shocked at that, they knew it would do well, but not to that level. 

Liam is the first to speak up, “we would like to thank our fans for that. Our ones that have been with us since the beginning and the ones we have picked up along the way. We are here because of them.”

“And I understand that all the sales of the album are going to charities of your choosing?” The DJ asks. 

“Yes, it will split between the five of us. It is our way of saying thank you to everyone for their support through the years,” Niall answers. 

“What are your charities?” 

“Mine with be the healthcare workers in Ireland and more locally, the school district where I live in London. I’ve had some personal experience over the quarantine with the educators and the toll it has taken on them. They are selfless and I want to give back to support them since there will be budget cuts,” Niall answers. 

The other guys look at Niall with smiles on their faces, knowing who he is referring to. The funny thing is Cait is probably not even listening and will have no idea. Niall just winks at them, when the other guys share their charities. 

The DJ asks some more questions and then the inevitable question happens about their relationships. Niall personally does not know what Harry and Louis are going to say, heck, he doesn’t even know what he is going to say. Cait and he have not even spoken about it. 

Liam answers for himself, knowing people already know about Maya. The same goes for Zayn. Harry, who never shares personal info simply says, “I’m currently in a relationship that I would like to keep private at this time.” The DJ nods and turns to Louis, “Well, as you saw over quarantine, Eleanor and I are no longer together and I am seeing someone.” Niall has to laugh at that, more like married to someone, but then all eyes are on him. He hasn’t been linked with anyone in awhile so he guesses his time is due, but he can’t do it, not yet. “Nope, I’m living the single life at the moment.” The lie rolls off his tongue, but he is not ready to share Cait with the public and he knows if he even hints at something, the paps will be all over him. The boys look up with in shock, but then understanding. They get it and respect Niall, but they have never seen him lie so smoothly before, it’s a new side of him. 

The interview ends shortly after that and Harry whispers in his ear on the way out, “smooth, but I don’t like that you are lying. That’s for Lou and I.” 

“We haven’t spoken about it and I’m not going to out us until I speak to her.”

“I can respect that, but the deeper you go into it, the harder it is to climb out. Don’t forget that.” 

The rest of the day goes quickly and they finish the final interview with Nick. He has become a favorite of theirs and is now a friend; he also asks the right questions, giving each of them an opportunity to talk about their solo albums and works, promoting each of them. They are all thankful for that. “So, this album cover, it really is a piece of art. I think it is one of the best pics of you all, tell us how it came about.” Nick doesn’t miss the exchange of glances between the guys. He has known them long enough that he knows a lot of their secrets and they trust them, but they are live. Liam takes over answering, “we had a photographer come out to document the rehearsals. This wasn’t staged, but just happened when our drummer was saying something and we all turned. When we saw it, we knew, plus we didn’t have to go to a studio for shots, so it was a win/win for us.” 

“Well, they seemed to capture you all perfectly, it is one of the best pictures I’ve seen of you lot.” What Nick isn’t saying is that he suspects whoever it is, knows the guys and the guys trust them. He has known them long enough to see that it is an honest picture, without the fakeness in staged pictures for publicity. “Who is the photographer, they are going to get a lot of attention after this?” 

They all look at each other, not sure what to say, or who is going to answer, but Niall is proud of Cait and she did ask for photo cred, but it is under her middle name. “Her name is Lindsay with L Photography. She was out of work during the quarantine, so we thought we could help her out.”

“She is crazy talented, some of her pieces could be in a gallery, but she is a purist and does it for the art of the picture and not the attention, that’s why we liked her. We ended up having her come out a few times and she has done some shoots for me as well. She has some mad skills,” Harry says and Niall looks at him with appreciation. 

Nick can read the room, not missing the exchange, knowing there is more, but he quips, “well, I’m sure finding work will not be a problem for her now. I will have to look her up.” 

He wraps up the interview shortly after that and when they are off the air, “so I feel like there is more to the story, you all going to share?” The guys look to Niall knowing it is his call, “You still coming tonight?” Niall asks Nick. He nods yes, “We’ll talk tonight,” Niall says with another wink. Now, Nick is intrigued, but he hugs the guy goodbye and tells him he will see him shortly, thanking them for coming. 

Niall check his phone to see if there is a text from Cait and he is sort of relieved there isn’t one. He is worried he said too much, but they are going to need to talk and talk soon. The catch is, she doesn’t read the papers and probably didn’t listen to the interview. 

“We dodged that one, but we may not be able to keep that up. You know our fans, how many are looking up her photography right now and there will not be anything there?” Zayn says. 

“I know, we haven’t talked about it, and with her being a teacher, I have to think of the students as well as her. I don’t want paps outside her school,” Niall says. 

“That’s fair, but it is going to happen sometime,” Liam says.

“Ya’ but this time, we are controlling the narrative, it has to be on our own terms.” 

The guys nod in understanding, all being on the receiving end of news that should have been kept private. They are preparing to leave to get ready for the party with their families and Niall checks once again that he doesn’t need to bring anything. 

“Nope, it should all be set up. Anne and Gemma are supervising, we have it catered, it’s going to be a banger,” Louis answers. They all say goodbye and Niall heads home to meet his parents that were seeing friends today. 

He hasn’t heard from Cait, but he knows she was doing a long training session, but he texts her and tells him he is heading back. His phone rings then and he sees its his estate agent. 

“Niall, good news, the owner of the other flat hasn’t lived there in nine months and would be interested in unloading it. I’ve called a contractor to look at it and see if we can file permits to enlarge the whole floor. If we can and get the building’s permission, do you want me to make an offer?” 

“That’s great news, I want to do that, but I have to talk it over first. If everything checks out, call me before we make the offer. Can you also check with the contractor to see if there is anyway to put in a lap pool or one of those swim in place pools? It would need to be heated if it is outside, but inside would be great too. Not, too deep, maybe five to seven feet.” 

Not surprised by the request, the agent gets a lot from his celebrity clients, “I can have an architect come out and see what they can do and if it can be permitted.” 

“Even better, keep me posted and thank you.” Niall smiles, because he thinks this could be a perfect solution for him and Cait and they can make it their own like she wanted. The only thing he is worried about is that it would upset or overwhelm her. She doesn’t like lavishness, but she is going to have get used to it because he loves her. He will need to add this to the list of things he needs to talk to her about.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Louis host a party and Niall introduces Cait to a different part of his life.

When Cait joins Niall and his parents that evening, he eyes her appraisingly. She is gorgeous in a full-length blue sundress that shows off her muscular body and her legs. He also thinks what it would look like on the floor as well. 

“Niall James Horan, where are your manners? Close your mouth,” Maura says. “Hi dear, don’t you look lovely. Blue is your color for sure, doesn’t she look lovely Niall?” 

Niall shakes his head and walks up to her kissing her, “Luv, you are stunning. I think we are going to have to go out more places so I can show you off. No one will notice me.” 

“Thank you and thank you Maura. Niall and I don’t go out much, mostly we work out so he hasn’t seen me all dolled up,” Cait responds with a smile. 

“Ow! What’cha do that for?” Niall rubs his head and looks at his mum.

“This is not a lady that should be locked up, you need to fix that,” Maura says. 

“Believe me, I’m trying, but we had this pandemic, there have not been a lot of opportunities.” 

“Mmphf,” Maura responds, “Ready dear, our car is waiting.” Niall watches the two most important women in his life walk out and he turns to his dad. 

“Don’t look at me, your mum’s right and Cait is lovely.” Niall shakes his head and smiles. 

The reunion party is amazing, there is a tent in the back with lights everywhere with sitting areas as opposed to tables. Cait is in awe, this is by far the nicest party she has ever been too. She turns around when she hears her name being called and sees Gigi and Maya. 

“Hi,” she says and then is immediately enclosed in a three-way hug. “It’s so nice to see you in person.”

“Your dress is amazing, blue is your color,” Gigi says and your body, “I will kill to have your body,” Maya says. “Thank you,” Cait says with a genuine smile. “I could say the same about you two.” 

“Let’s get some drinks and sit down, we have so much to talk about,” Maya says. Cait leans back and sees Niall. He gestures, asking if it okay if he goes and mingles. Cait nods and Niall feels like she is in good hands. 

He walks up to Liam and Zayn, who watched the exchanged. “Well lads, I think our world just got smaller, our women certainly hit it off.” 

Liam and Zayn both nod, Zayn saying “Gigi loves Cait, I guess they chat and text.” “Same with Maya, she adores Cait,” Liam says. 

“Cait speaks highly of them as well, she says she feels like she has two new sisters.” Harry and Louis walks up then and smile when they see what their other mates are observing. 

“Oi, it looks like they are having fun,” Louis says. They see Cait throw her head back in laughter and Niall smiles at the sound. 

“And Cait is holding her own, I know you were worried,” Harry says. “Don’t think you need to be, they look thick as thieves. We are going to need to be careful.” 

“She really is something else, Niall. I’m really happy for you,” Zayn says. 

“I think our Niallers will be the next one to walk down the aisle, what do you think Z?” Liam says. 

Niall shakes his head no, when Zayn nods. “Why not?” 

“I haven’t even asked her, but we have spoken about it. We want to see how this year goes, but I’m in the process of buying the flat next to mine to remodel it and make it ours.” 

“What, really? That’s great,” Liam says and the other boys nod as well looking over at the ladies fondly and seeing that they are occupied, they start mingling with their families and friends. Niall loves seeing all the guys’ parents and siblings again, it is almost like old times.

Niall is speaking with Anne and Gemma when he feels a familiar hand on his arm and turns and sees Cait.

The two women watch as Cait smiles at Niall and his face lights up in ways they haven’t seen in quite some time. They exchange a knowing glance and realize this must be Niall’s Cait that Harry and Louis have told them about. 

Gemma clears her throat and the two break out of their trance, “You must be Cait, I’ve heard so much about you, I’m Gemma and this is my mum, Anne.”

“Oh, you are Harry’s mum and sister. It is a pleasure to meet you,” Cait says. 

“Likewise, you made quite the impression on Harry and Lou, but I understand you’ve swept Niall off his feet. It is a formidable woman who can do that, we thought Niall would be a bachelor forever,” Anne says. 

“Well, he won me over with his live streams, what can I say,” Cait says. 

“It really is an interesting story you will have to tell your children someday,” Gemma says.

Niall looks at Gemma, then at Cait. They have never spoken about children, only marriage. He figured they would have some one day, “It will when the times comes,” he responds and squeezes Cait, hoping she is not uncomfortable. 

Without missing a beat Cait says, “Gemma, Harry tells me you are a writer and journalist, I advise my school paper, can you tell me about some of your favorite pieces you’ve written?” 

Gemma’s face lights up as the two walk away talking. “Well, that didn’t take long,” Niall says to Anne. “She is bright, and charming. If she can manage this crowd, then she can take on the public, I think.” Anne says. “She has skills, changing the conversation so quickly and taking the attention off of her.” 

“Well, she has some experience in that area. She was a world class swimmer and has done her fair share of interviews.” 

“Harry mentioned that, I really like her Niall, you did great,” Anne says hugging him. Niall closes his eyes; it has been too long since he had an Anne hug. He has always viewed Anne as his second mum. “Thanks Anne, she is my one.” 

He walks up to Cait and realizes she has already arranged for Gemma to come and speak to her journalism classes in the fall. He is not surprised as he steals her away from Gemma to introduce her to some of his friends. 

“Grimmy, I want to introduce you to my Cait, she is the one who took the album cover,” Niall says. 

Nick can’t help the shocked expression that is on his face. Niall laughs at him as Cait shakes his hand. Always one to overdo, Nick kisses the back of her hand, awed by her striking beauty. “It’s a pleasure to meet you madam, Niall is keeping things close to his chest, aren’t we Ni? Where has he been hiding you.” 

Niall smiles and shrugs his shoulders and Cait looks at him questioningly. “I had to lie during my interview today, said Lindsay with L Photography took the album cover, I also said I didn’t have anyone in my life, since . . .” Niall leans over whispering, “we haven’t talked about going public.” Cait nods in understanding. 

“Please don’t blame Niall, we are keeping things under wraps right now because of my career and I’m enjoying some anonymity for a little bit longer,” Cait says. “He has spoken highly of you, says you are one of the good ones, good journalists that is. Those are hard to find in the industry.” 

Niall can’t help but smile, Cait has put Nick in his place perfectly, but of course she would. 

“Et tu’ Brute?” Nick turns to Niall. “Where did you find her? I want one.”

Niall laughs at that, tension abated. “Well, she is one of a kind I’m afraid, and I assure you she is taken.” 

Nick narrows his eyes at Cait trying to think where he has seen her before. “So, are you really a photographer?”

“I am, but not professionally. It is more of a hobby, but I did take the cover and a few others of the band, just for fun and I was honored that they chose it for their album,” Cait says. 

Nick nods, still trying to figure her out. “Sooooooo, you are not a photographer, are you a model?” 

Cait and Niall both laugh at that although Niall thinks she could be, “No, I actually teach upper level English, journalism, and coach at a local school.”

The wheels are turning in Nick’s head, he can’t turn off the journalist instinct. “Is this why you are donating to a local school district, Ni?” Cait looks at him in surprise because he hasn’t said anything before. Niall glares at Nick, “It was going to be a surprise, luv, I wanted to help the district out since you said the budget was being cut.” 

“Oh, Niall, thank you so much, that is wonderful news,” Cait says throwing her arms around Niall. Nick mouths “sorry” to Niall when he catches his eye seeing Niall’s glare. 

Cait turns back to Nick, composed again, saying, “I’m finding that if you are not in music, you are a journalist at this party. I spoke with Gemma and invited her to come speak to my class, would you be willing to do the same; talk about what you do and how you got there? It would give them some great insight to hear from a person so successful as you.” 

Again, Niall looks down to hide his smile because Cait can charm the pants off of anyone and turn the conversation around on a dime. Seeing her in action is something else. 

“I would love to, Niall has my personal number, text me and we can arrange it. I have to ask though, I feel like I know you from somewhere and I can’t place it, are you sure you’re not in the industry?” 

“I’m not, but do you remember your first internship at uni?” Cait asks. Niall looks at her and then at Nick, unsure of where this is going. 

“Yes, I worked for a local paper in the sports department,” Nick says. Cait nods, “Do you remember covering a swim meet?” Then it hits him, he remembers. “Oh my God, You’re Caitlin Guion! That wasn’t just any swim meet, that was junior nationals. You were one of my first solo interviews, I was so nervous.” Nick turns red then. “I forgot to turn on my tape recorder and I had to ask you all the questions again and you were so kind and a great sport about it.” Cait nods smiling. “I was so embarrassed as well, thought you were cute and it was one of my first interviews too.” 

“Niall, do you realize who this is?” Nick asks and Niall smiles and nods his head. He isn’t surprised anymore. Cait’s and his world are more connected than he ever imagined. 

“I thought you were going to get mad and complain and I was going to be fired, thanks for that by the way. What happened with swimming, you disappeared from the scene?” Nick asks. 

Niall feels Cait tense up for a second and he puts his hand on her back, “Sometimes you just have to know when to walk away and try something new. Like you did when you switched to broadcast radio. I always wondered what happened to that rookie reporter. I’ve been a fan of yours since then, seen you climb the ladder.”

Nick is completely charmed by Cait and Niall is proud of her. “Well, darling anything I can do, please let me know. I feel like I owe you one for sure.” Cait is called away by Maura then and takes her leave promising she will contact Nick. 

Niall looks at his friend, “Well, that was a surprise, but then I’m used to that when it comes to Cait.” “She is absolutely amazing, I’m really happy for you. She put me in my place and that is hard to do. Can’t believe she was my first interview, she was the gold medal favorite, you know, I think she held the national record at one time too.” 

“She did, but she doesn’t really talk about it much. Her energies are more focused on her swim team and her races, she does triathlons now.” 

“You don’t say?” Nick replies, pondering the news. “Mind if I ask what happened?” 

“Her brother died, changed her perspective on things and she realized she wasn’t happy so she decided to do what does. She is one of the strongest people I know.” 

“Wow,” is all Nick can say as the two men watch Cait mingle with their friends. “So when is the wedding?” 

Niall smiles, “I’ll let you know when I do.” 

Cait is enjoying herself immensely, meeting the family of all the guys as well as their friends. She knows she is the outsider and fully recognizes that, but no one has made her uncomfortable. Part of her wishes she had her camera to capture everything as she looks around smiling. She understands the public vs. private life and seeing people be who they really are is comforting, they feel safe as she watches Louis whisper something into Harry’s ear and Harry in turns kisses Louis. 

“Penny for your thoughts.” Cait looks up quickly and sees Liam. “I look over and you are all by yourself; you doing okay?” he asks as he sits down next to Cait. 

“Oh yes, I’m just taking it all in. What you all have here with each other, a found family is very special.” Liam looks around because for the last ten years, it is his normal and he is used to it, but he doesn’t take it for granted. It brings a smile to his face to see it through Cait’s eyes. 

“How are you doing?” Cait asks.

“Why do you do that?” Cait looks at Liam in confusion. “I’m not sure what you mean.” 

“You don’t like to talk about yourself. You flip the conversation around to always ask about others even when they want to know about you. I remember you did it the first time we met you on Zoom.”

“I do? I didn’t realize I did, but now that I think about it, it probably comes from the media training, you know about that.” Liam gives her an amused look, “I did it again.” Cait says with a smile. 

“I was taught to answer the question directly and then turn the attention off of me. After a while, I liked hearing what others said, hearing their stories.” She smiles to herself then and Liam waits. “I guess that is why I’m a teacher and a photographer. I like other people’s stories.” 

“A wonderful one, I hear. Didn’t you when a big award this past year? 

Cait laughed then, “Oh you heard about that. I did, Teacher of the Year, it was flattering.” 

“I also heard that you are doing the Ironman, that’s admirable. How is training going?”

“Good, it is becoming harder to find the time, but it grounds me especially with all of this.” She swings her arm around. “So, how are the workouts going since quarantine, you back to top shape yet?” Cait asks Liam. 

“Not anywhere close, didn’t you see my cooking videos? We ate like kings.” They both laugh at that. “I would love to come and train with you sometime. Niall said you kicked his butt in swimming and Harry said the same about running.” Cait laughs again and nods her head yes. “Text me and I will tell you when my next training session is.” 

“How far do you go?” “Well today was my long day, so I did a two-mile swim, 80-mile bike, and 16-mile run.” Liam spits out his drink in surprise. “Holy shit Cait and you are at a party looking gorgeous, I would be dead to the world, maybe I won’t be joining you.” 

“Thank you, I think, it is part of the training really, I race in about six weeks, then I will go back to lighter training. Come join me then.” Liam nods and they continue to talk about training and exercising. 

Niall looked up when he heard Cait’s laughter across the room. He sees her with Liam and smiles. For some reason he thought she would be nervous and stick by his side, but he had to go find her since the moment she was spirited away by the other girls. Niall was so lost in watching her that he didn’t hear when James walked up to him. “Are you going to introduce us or just stare at her all day?” 

Niall turns and sees James Corden, his wife, Julia and Harry. “James, my man, how are you?” They hug like the old friends that they are and Niall greets Julia. “Seems like forever ago I was on your show, that was the last in person promoting I was able to do.” 

“Yes, it does. Good times we had, especially with the pigeons. I think they liked you.” 

They all laugh at that, “I will get you back sometime for that,” Niall says shaking at the memory. 

“I asked Harry who the beautiful woman in blue was, he told me that is your almost fiancé. Is it true?”

“James, leave him alone,” Julia says. “Sorry, Ni,” Harry says shrugging his shoulders. 

Niall smiles and nods, “Ya, she is and I couldn’t be happier, so don’t go scaring her now.” 

“I would never,” James says with his hand across his chest, mocking hurt, “but are you going to introduce us?” 

“Sure, let me go grab her.” Niall walks over to Cait while the three look on. 

James looks at Harry, “he is the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time. Even on the show that week, he was uptight more than usual. Is it her?” 

Harry nods, “she is one of the most amazing, bravest, witty, down to earth people I’ve ever met and it is as if she couldn’t be bothered that we all do what we do. Just wait, you will see what I mean. She is good for Niall, for all of us really. A breath of fresh air to remind us what’s important.” 

James and Julia nod their heads knowing that is high praise coming from Harry. 

Niall walks up to them with Cait and Liam. James can tell that Cait recognizes him instantly and smiles at the couple and hugs Harry. “James, Julia, I would like to introduce you to my Cait, she is the lovely person who took our album cover,” Niall says not hiding the pride in his voice. 

“It is so nice to meet both of you, I am a big fan of your show,” Cait says shaking both their hands. “Especially love all your carpool karaokes.” 

“Thank you, I understand you have charmed our Nialler and taken him off the market. There are going to be lots of young ladies upset with you, I hope you know,” James says. 

“I don’t know about charmed or young girls. I haven’t seen any of those.” They all laugh at that. “But, I kind of put him through the ringer before I agreed to date him. I’ve decided he is a good cook so I’m going to keep him around,” Cait says while the others laugh at that. “I understand you have three children, what are their ages?”

Liam chuckles at that and Cait looks at him with a smile. 

Before Niall knows it, the Cordens and Cait are sitting down talking. Zayn and Louis walk up then and hear Liam’s comment. “Well, Ni, that charm worked on them too. She’s good, too good, if you ask me so don’t screw it up,” Liam says and Niall and Harry give him a look of consternation. “I don’t plan too, but thanks for the support,” Niall says. 

“I think what Liam is trying to say is, if you hurt her, I think there are a lot of us that will want to beat you up, our history be damned,” Harry says slapping a hand on Niall’s shoulder. “Besides, she gives amazing advice, even when you didn’t even realize you needed to hear it.” 

“I’ll drink to that,” Louis says holding his glass up.

“That she does,” Zayn adds. “And I agree with Haz, she is a special one.”

Niall isn’t surprised that his best mates have now turned on him, he feels like he's back behind the garage at Cait’s parents’ place. 

The party winds down when their friends start leaving promising to see them at the concert tomorrow. The guys, their girlfriends and parents and are sitting reminiscing and telling stories of their time together. Relaxed, and snuggled with their significant others. Cait is curled up under Niall’s arm, smiling and laughing along with everyone else and at that moment, Niall thinks it couldn’t get any better as he looks at those he loves. He catches his mum’s eye and she nods towards Cait with a smile, when he looks down, he sees her eyes closed. Niall leans down and kisses her on her head and looks up and realizing that his mum is not the only one watching him and everyone has a smile on their face. His heart is full and he feels love from his family. 

“I think it’s time I take my lot home, see everyone tomorrow, yes.” Niall says. “Harry, Lou, thanks for hosting, it was fun.” 

Others start to get up and gather their things as Niall leans down to wake up Cait. “Luv, let’s get you home.” Cait opens her eyes and feels embarrassed, “I’m so sorry, Niall. I can’t believe I fell asleep.” “No worries, you aren’t the only one. Me’ Dad joined you.” 

Harry and Louis see them to their car. Cait thanks both of them, giving them a hug goodbye. 

“Well Boo Bear, I think our Nialler is all grown up and has found himself one amazing lass,” Harry says with his arms around Louis. 

“Yes, Sun, I think he has. And to think he did it without our help. Now, let’s go to bed, I’m exhausted.”


	13. Chapter 13

Niall was able to sleep in until nine, which felt amazing. Keeping celebrity hours is starting to take his toll, he is realizing. He is excited about the concert today and really enjoyed the party last night. Once things calm down, he is going to have to talk to Cait, about his idea for a new house, them going public, and even children. He smiles at that, the idea of little Nialls or little Caits running around, make him happy. Maybe, he needs to put in more bedrooms. He shakes his head, breaking out of his daydreaming when his phone goes off. He smiles when he sees it is Liam, always predictable, giving them the schedule for the day. The next text is from Zayn, asking if Cait is still coming. A couple weeks back, the guys mentioned that they want Cait to document the behind the scenes of the concert so she will be joining him the entire time, but in a work capacity. Niall texts back that she would be there, a little surprised that its Zayn who asked, but he knows Cait and him have a special connection.

Next, he texts Cait, asking her to come up for breakfast before they have to head to Wembley. Cait says she will be up shortly. When Niall walks into the kitchen, he sees his parents already up and the coffee is on. “Mornin’ Mum, Da’, how’ ya’ feelin’?” 

Maura points to the bottle of aspirin on the counter saying, “Lordy, I’m not meant to be keeping these late hours, but last night was pure joy. I loved seeing me friends again, but I’m gonna turn into a pumpkin if I stay up this late again.” 

Bobby, just holds up his coffee and goes back to watching the telly, Niall laughs at that. 

“Cait is coming up for breakfast and then we have to meet the car at 11. Your car is coming at five, will ya’ be okay by yourselves?”

“Don’t worry about us, we will be fine. Your Cait certainly charmed everyone at the party last night. The other mums were talking about her. Says she is the right one for ya’, I told them she was your Anam Cara*, they agreed. But they also asked, and I want to know, when are ya’ going to ask her to marry you?” 

“Mum, do we have to talk about it right now? Today, is kind of a busy day for me.”

“Well, ya’ are almost at five months, right? You know she is the one. You don’t want her to get away.”

“I assure ya’, she is not going anywhere.” 

“Where am I going?” Cait asks and Maura and Niall whip their heads around, not realizing that Cait had walked in.

Cait takes in the scene and feels like she walked into something she shouldn’t have, but she is there so she sets her things down looking for coffee. 

Niall quickly composes himself and walks over to give her a morning kiss, “nowhere luv, mum is just worried you are going to leave me.”

Cait looks Maura square in the face, “I assure you I’m not going anywhere, but where he is going. It’s going to take a lot for him to get rid of me,” she says with complete seriousness. 

Niall hasn’t ever heard her speak like that, even Bobby turns around at her tone and Maura is speechless. Cait continues with a smirk and a wink at Maura, “but it would be nice if he would put a ring on my finger so everyone will stop asking.” 

The silence in the room is deafening and Cait is looking at Maura and Niall and Niall releases the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. 

“Are you asking me to marry you then?” Niall asks with a smirk. 

“No, I’m just stating a fact, so you need to get on it,” she replies, “besides, I don’t ask.”

Maura is standing there loving every minute of this and her cheeky lass of a future daughter in law. Her hands are clasped across her chest, hoping what she thinks will happen, will and she is there to see it. Bobby has walked over and is standing next to her watching the exchange. Maura whispers in his ear and he quietly retreats from the room, quickly returning, handing something to Maura. 

Both children are so intent on each other that they don’t even realize they have an audience. 

“Is that what you want?” Niall asks.

“Of course, it is, ya’ big oaf. We’ve talked about it.”

“I was waiting for the right time, a grand gesture and what not.” 

“Niall James Horan, when have I wanted a grand gesture? I get mad at you for buying me dinner.” 

“But I haven’t asked your parents, right and proper.”

“I think my parents know, my dad and brothers did take you around back.” 

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.”

“And me sliding into your Lives, you dming me, us living in the same building, is how it’s supposed to be, what are the chances?”

“I don’t have a ring, yet, don’t even know your ring size.” 

“Oh, Niall, I don’t need a ring, we can do that later.”

“If I may,” Maura interrupts. Niall’s and Cait’s heads whip off so fast, forgetting there is an audience. Niall looks at her in question when she walks over to him, grabs his hand and sets a small ring box in his palm, folding his fingers around it. When Niall looks up, he sees the love and feels how right this is. Maura looks at her boy putting so much reassurance and love into her smile before she walks back to stand next to Bobby.

Niall looks at his parents, looks at Cait, realizing he is losing a battle that he is okay with losing. This was not how he thought this morning would go, he doesn’t even know what is in the box, but it feels right so he goes for it. 

He kneels down and grabs Cait’s hand kissing it, “Caitlin Lindsay Guion, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife, will you marry me?” Niall opens the box and sees his Nanna’s ring. Immense pride fills his chest when he realizes that the ring Cait will be wearing is a family heirloom. 

Niall looks up at Cait and sees she has tears in her eyes and she is nodding, “yes, yes, I want nothing more.” Niall stands up and kisses Cait, before telling her, “I love you so much.” “And I love you,” Cait says.

They stand there lost in each other until his mum clears her throat, breaking them out of their trance. “Let’s see if this fits.” Niall takes the ring out of the box and slides it on Cait’s finger. It fits perfectly, but Niall expected it too, honestly. “This was my Nanna’s, and now it’s yours for as long as you will have me.” 

“Oh Niall, I’ll have you forever.” With such a sudden turn of events, Niall can’t really express his emotions, so he picks up Cait and spins her around laughing, happier than he has ever been. 

He looks up at his mum and dad and sees Maura crying, hands still clasped. His dad has his phone out and he realizes he captured the whole thing. 

“You knew?” Niall asks him mum. 

“No, but I was bringing Nanna’s ring in case you wanted to give it to Cait. I had it cleaned and fixed up. I didn’t know this was going to happen, but that’s the way with soulmates.”

“Actually, I was going to ask you if I could have it,” Niall says. 

“Then its cinniúint*, it’s meant to be,” Maura says.

“Yes, I think it is,” Cait says quietly looking at her ring. “This is beautiful, I’m honored to wear it.” 

The platinum ring has a solitarie diamond, with a celtic love knot on either side surrounded by bands of small diamonds. To Cait, it is the most beautiful ring she has ever seen. 

After the initial shock of what just happened, Cait walked over to Maura and hugged her. Not sure what to say to her future mother in law, she goes with what she is feeling, “I promise I will protect him with all my heart and take care of him.” 

A smiling Maura puts her hand on Cait’s face, “I know ya’ will lass, to me, there is no better woman out there for him. You are his, and he is yours. He sees you, you see him.” For some reason that brings tears to Cait’s eyes, “thank you for having so much faith in me, and for the ring. I don’t wear it lightly.” Maura hugs Cait to her chest, so thankful that God put Cait in Niall’s path. When they break away, Niall is there to take her in his arms and Cait feels at peace. She closes her eyes, inhailing his smell and absorbing his strength; she sighs knowing she will have a lifetime of this. 

The morning quickly turns in to one of celebration with Bobby cooking a big breakfast and Cait calling her parents. Niall calls his brother. Her head is spinning, if you had told her when she woke up that she would be engaged today or within the hour, much less, she wouldn’t have believe it, but then she thinks Niall wouldn’t have either. 

Before they know it, they have to leave and they grab their stuff. Since Cait is working, she will also change at the stadium before the concert. Her parents, brothers and families will also be coming since Niall promised Kim tickets. Once they are in the car and have a moment of peace, they look at each other. “Hi,” she says. “Hi fiancé,” Niall responds kissing her hand. He doesn’t want to let go. “So how are we going to handle this with today?” she asks. 

“How do you want to handle it?” 

“Well, today is about you and the guys, let’s keep it that way. This is once in a lifetime, and I want you to enjoy and take in every minute of it, so don’t worry about me. We have the rest of our lives,” Cait responds. 

“But what about the guys, I want to tell them.” 

“We should, they will figure it out anyway, but I don’t want to distract from today. Let’s keep it to ourselves today, our families know and I will wear the ring, if they notice, they notice. But, what if we meet with the guys for quick minute and tell them before we get started today?” 

“That’ll work, let me text them.” 

Niall sends a quick text for a short meeting before they start final rehearsals today and the guys all agree. He is not surprised when he gets a text back between Harry and him only asking if everything is okay. “Better than okay, mate” he responds with a thumbs up emoji. 

He sits back smiling, taking it all in and looks at Cait who is staring at her ring finger, watching the sun reflect off the stones. Today is and will be a day to remember for sure. 

*Irish for soulmate. *Irish for fate


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the reunion concert!

When they arrive at the venue and grab their things from the boot, an assistant greets them telling them that she is there to help him throughout the day and gives them credentials. Niall shakes his head, leave it to management to give each of them an assistant. 

They are shown to the guys’ dressing room, they all wanted to share like old times and he finds Zayn and Liam already there. Cait stores her stuff for later and takes out her camera when Louis and Harry arrive. 

After their initial greetings, Liam asks Niall why he wanted to meet. Niall asks Cait to join him and he looks to his mates, his brothers, the ones who know him the best. “Well, um, this wasn’t planned, but we wanted to tell you . . .” 

“You’re pregnant!” Harry yells. 

Cait turns red immediately, and Niall is speechless. “Ah, no Harry, I’m not, thank you very much!” 

“Let him speak, God Haz!” Louis says humorously.

“I’ve asked Cait to marry me and she said yes,” Niall says hurriedly and holds up Cait’s hand showing the ring. 

The room explodes in congratulations, hugs, kisses. Harry picks up Cait and spins her around and Zayn holds her whispering in her ear how happy he is for them. 

“Welcome to the family, sis,” Louis says. 

“We wanted to tell you all, but besides our immediate family, no one else knows. Cait doesn’t want to take away attention from today, even though I told her not to worry about it. So, we will announce it later, on our own terms, so please keep it quiet,” Niall explains.

Liam catches Cait’s eye and winks, nodding that he understands and she knows last night’s conversation is going through his head. She smiles. 

“Not to state the obvious, but I think that ring will kind of give it away,” Louis says. 

“I’m going to take it off for the concert, I want this to be about you all today,” Cait says.

“But we both wanted to tell you all first. She’s wearing my Nanna’s ring, mum brought it, hoping,” Niall says with a smile.

“Well, I couldn’t be happier for you both,” Liam says. 

Just then there is a knock on the door and an assistant pops in telling them it is time. With a quick kiss on Cait’s cheek, they head out. 

The afternoon flies by quickly and Cait stays out of the way taking pictures and capturing as much as she can. Every once in awhile she catches Niall looking at her, his grin widens and she blows him a kiss or winks back. She feels like she is living a dream when she turns around and see the large stadium, knowing it is going to be filled to capacity in a few short hours. After sound checks and last-minute items, they all go back stage to hang out until their families join them for a big dinner. 

Cait respects that all of them wanted to make this reunion a family affair and to recognize their families’ support for standing by them during their time together. It really hits home to her, putting family first. The guys head back to the dressing room and Cait hangs back, not wanting to intrude. It’s Zayn that pulls her along and tells her to come in with them. 

“Cait, can you upload those pictures and share them to me in the next hour?” Louis asks. 

She is a little surprised, but nods that she can, pulling out her laptop and getting to work at the table. In the zone, she is oblivious of what is going on around her. 

Niall knows why Louis is asking and wonders what Cait’s reaction will be when her pictures are on the big screen during the concert; knowing that’s why they wanted her to come out and take pictures of them. He smiles when he sees her bite her bottom lip because she is concentrating. He thinks it is sexy. 

Liam catches him watching, and throws a bottle at Niall breaking him out of his trance. He looks up, startled. “Obvious much?” Liam says with a smile. Niall owns it and walks over to stand behind Cait; he sees the pictures and motions the guys to come over and join him. They are not surprised anymore by her ability to capture them in such an honest way. She really doesn’t have to edit them at all, which is a credit to her skill. 

Cait looks up, realizing she is finished and doesn’t see the boys until she hears movement behind her and turns around. She lets out a surprised “oh” when she sees that they had been watching her. “Creepers much?” she says with a smile. 

“You are really talented Cait, we were just watching the process. Finished?” Louis asks. 

She nods and Louis hands her a flash drive to upload the pictures; she hands it to him when she is done and he heads out to pass it off to an assistant to give to the tech guys. 

“Would you mind sharing those with us like you did the other ones?” Zayn asks. 

She nods and types in their emails and closes her laptop. It’s getting closer to five and they need to start getting ready, her included. Niall leans down and kisses her and compliments her on the pics and they grab their things to change. 

Dinner is a fun, but a quick affair. There are some toasts and the air is full of excitement. Niall is thankful that they had the party last night because Cait is comfortable hanging out with everyone. She mostly sticks with his mum or Gigi and Maya. Before everyone breaks away, Cait asks if they can take a big group shot. Everyone nods and she finds one of the PAs to take it. When she looks down to check it, what strikes her is that no one is lumped together with their nuclear family, but Niall is with Anne, Louis with Zayn’s mum and sisters, Niall has his arms around Lottie and Ruth and Harry is with Mark and Bobby. It really is a true testament to how far they have come. Everyone quickly says their goodbyes as the guys leave to make their final preparations and the families head to the VIP section. When Cait walks closer to the stage, she can hear the roar of the fans. She is not used to that at all, but when they enter the arena, nothing prepares her for the crowds, it is packed and Cait knows her brothers and nieces are somewhere out there. She slowly turns in a circle, in awe of the amount of people

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Gemma says. “One thing about the band, you can always rely on the fans, but I don’t think I ever get used to this.” 

Cait could only nod, this was like Aladdin, a whole new world for her, “I had no idea, these people are all here for the guys?” 

“Oh, honey, you are in for a treat, this is nothing compared to some of the other places they have performed,” Gemma says. 

The concert is almost ready to start and the families take their seats, Cait sits between Maura and Gigi. She looks around and realizes that there are several famous faces she recognizes and shakes her head. This is the part of Niall’s life that she has no concept of, but she realizes she is going to have to learn and that is okay.

Before she knows it, the concert is over and Cait has ringing in her ears, but it was worth it. She jumped up at the end giving them a standing ovation, her and everyone around her. The guys did a great job of incorporating their own songs in with One Direction’s greatest hits. When they sang “Home,” all the guys walked over to where the families were sitting leaving the rest of the stadium awwwing. There may or may not have been a tear in a few of their eyes at that one. Niall sang “Black and White,” spending a lot of time in front of Cait, winking at her before he heads to the other side of the stage, leaving Gigi to tease her and Maura to pat her leg. Of course, she returned the favor, when Zayn serenaded Gigi during one of his songs. Cait’s favorite moment was probably during “If I Could Fly” when Harry and Louis held hands and if fans didn’t get the message, they did when Louis sang “Always You” with images of Harry through the years on the screen. The fans ate it up, the noise deafening and Cait, Gemma, and several of their family had tears, knowing that this was a huge moment. 

A surprise for Cait was when her pictures started to appear on the screen, she had no idea that was how they were going to use them. The entire concert was a montage of the band through the years and then it was all of Cait’s pictures up through that day. She was shook; even when Zayn pointed right at her and then the screen, signing “thank you.” The other boys came by and acknowledge her as well, Niall smiling with such pride. Then the concert was over and the final picture was the album cover. Cait was so proud of all of them and after the encore and guys retreated back behind the stage, she found herself in Maura’s arms, they were all hugging and crying from what they just experienced. 

Shortly, after everyone got themselves under control, security came and escorted them all backstage. Cait had eyes for only one and then she found herself standing in front of her future husband. Niall and her looked at each other for a moment suddenly overcome she puts her hands on either side of Niall’s face and presses her lips to his. 

It shocks Niall at first, but he is not complaining and puts his arms around her and deepens the kiss. They break the kiss off out of necessity and press their foreheads together, breathing each other in. Niall is the first to break the moment, “I guess ya’ liked it luv.” 

Cait smiles and nods, “I had no idea what I was missing, it was amazing.” 

They just take in each other in until they hear someone clear their throat and they break away sheepishly, looking up. They see are all the guys, their girlfriends and families watching them with such fondness on their faces and Cait and Niall can feel the love and support. It is just a pause, a moment, and then everyone turns back to what they are doing shaking their heads. 

Niall and Cait are both blushing, not used to PDA, but they were caught in the moment. Cait steps out of his arms when his parents come for hug and Cait looks around. She sees Harry, with his arm around Louis and their families surrounding them. Harry catches her eye and mouths “thank you,” to her. She nods and signs that she is proud of him. His face lights up and he nods. Cait feels an arm around her again, and she is pulled into Niall’s side once again. 

“What did you think of the pictures?” 

“I loved them. I’ve never seen my pictures that large before, but it was wonderful. Thank you, really. The final pic gave me chills. I was honored you all decided to use them that way.” 

He kisses her on the head, proud of her and that her pictures will receive the attention they deserve even though they don’t know that Cait took them. 

Everyone spends some more time backstage and then the guys go and clean up, Cait follows them to grab her things, putting her ring back on. Whereas last night was for family, tonight a nearby ballroom has been rented for a party with everyone involved with the concert, the families and all the guys’ friends. Basically, a lot of those sitting behind Cait in the VIP section.   
Busses are taking them over, and when she walks back, she notices that Gigi, Maya, Lottie, and Gemma are the only ones still there. She smiles and walks over. 

“Doing okay?” Gemma asks. 

“Yeah, I’ve never been to a concert before, this was my first. It was amazing.”

“Never? Or just not a One Direction concert?” Lottie asks. 

Cait shakes her head. “Wow, well it doesn’t get much better than this, you are going to be spoiled now,” Gemma says. 

“Well, I plan to attend more concerts of a certain someone now that I know what I’m missing,” Cait says with a smile. 

“Wait, let me see your hand,” Gigi says. “Is that what I think it is?” 

Cait nods, smiling really big. “Yep, he asked me this morning.” The cacophony of girl sounds trailed into the guys’ dressing room. 

“Wonder what has them in a tizzy?” Zayn says. 

“Cait probably told ‘em,” Liam says. The guys agree, knowing Liam is probably right and when the guys came out to join the girls, they weren’t surprised to see them all around Cait looking at her hand.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall and Cait go on a little get away to discuss some things.

After the whirlwind of the concert, families and parties, and surprise, an unexpected engagement, a coming out, Niall was exhausted, but happier than he thinks he has ever been. So many interviews to follow up the success of the concert and the album, magazine, radio, telly. Niall had not realized how quickly he was enjoying the slower pace of things until everything was ramped up again to what had become his normal. Not anymore he told himself, he had more to lose and he wasn’t going to let his career jeopardize it. There can be a balance, and that is what he is going to do. 

After a trip to Cait’s parents’ house for the parents to meet and the mums to exchange numbers, the couple saw his parents off after a great visit. The concert and album broke so many records that after a while Niall lost track, but he knows it went platinum and the concert was the most viewed event in live television history. He is so thankful for their fanbase and the fact that everything goes to charity makes it that much better, but he was tired, he missed Cait and wanted to spend some alone time with her so he suggested a getaway from them in a few days.

About a week later, he woke up, packed his toiletries in his suitcase and was preparing to hit the road. Cait and he sorely needed some time alone to discuss lots of things and he wanted to get out of the city for that. When he suggested it, she agreed and they are headed to the Lake District for a few days. On his agenda was moving in together while he had his flat renovated, the wedding, making their relationship fully public, and children. For some reason that final one was heavy on his mind. 

He also figured he would have children someday, but never gave it any thought. It would happen when it was supposed to happen. But now, the thought of children, more importantly, having a child with Cait would be extraordinary and without a doubt he knows he wants to. However, they have never talked about it and he doesn’t know how he would feel if she didn’t want children. Niall knows she loves her nieces and nephews and she is a teacher, so certainly she would want children. Right? His mum said to not borrow trouble and don’t worry about it until they talk. He knows she is right, but he can’t get it out of his head. 

Meanwhile, downstairs, Cait is checking her camera and making sure she packs her charger humming to herself. She is so happy Niall suggested a getaway. Cait is not a jealous person, but after having Niall all to herself for so long, she missed him, missed the closeness, missed the tender touches. She knows that this will be what it’s like when he tours and it’s the price she has to pay being with someone who is famous. 

Before she knows it, Niall is knocking on her door, she grabs her stuff, opening the door and feels her heart jump when she sees his big smile. “Hi luv, you ready?” Niall asks. 

“Always,” she greets him with a smile and a kiss. 

The two ride in companionable silence holding hands while they head out of London and Cait busies herself looking around. She turns when she feels Niall brush his lips across her knuckles. 

“Penny for your thoughts, luv?” 

“I’m just thinking I’m happy, like really, really happy for the first time in a long time and I owe that to you.” Cait is quiet for a moment as she looks at Niall and they exchange a smile. Then she puts her hand over his and whispers, “thank you.” 

Cait’s words wrap themselves around his heart as the warmth of them floods through it. “It’s I who should be thanking you luv, you have changed my life for the better and introduced me to so many new things and experiences that for the first time since I joined the band, I could just be me,” Niall says quietly casting a sidelong glance her way to see her reaction. 

She looks at him with obvious affection, “I guess it’s meant to be then.” 

After that conversation, they ride in silence for a bit, each lost in their own thoughts and Niall wants to discuss children with her. He feels like it is the right time, but is fearful that she may not want any. Out of all the other things they need to discuss, this is the one the causes the most stress. He decides to muster his Irish courage and just ask. 

“So, with everything going, I haven’t had a chance to discuss some things with you that have been on my mind. That was one of the reasons for me suggesting this trip. I wanted you to myself, but I also wanted to talk with you.”

“Funny, I have been wanting to talk to you about some stuff as well.” 

“What do you want to talk about?” Niall asks. 

“Umm, well, the wedding, going public, living plans, careers, kids, you know the normal stuff engaged couples talk about.” 

Niall huffed out a breath, with the exception of going public, it was all normal. “Funny, those are some of the same I have. So, kids? Thoughts?” He decides to put it out there because that is really his biggest concern. 

“I want them, do you?” Cait asks, kind of looking at him from the corner of her eye, hoping that he will say yes. 

He nods, because he was stressing himself out over nothing it seems, because they are on the same page. “Yeah, I do, I mean eventually. Not right away, but I always saw myself as a dad.” 

Cait lets out a relieved sigh at that. “Me too, a mum, I mean. I’m not ready yet either, but I would like a few.” 

“A few? Like more than two?”

“Well, I want one of each, if that happens, we stop, if it doesn’t, I would like to try for more. But I heard you should never have an odd number, so not three, but four and stop there.”

“We would be outnumbered,” he says with a raised eyebrow. 

“But wouldn’t it be fun to have little Nialls and little Caits running around?” 

Niall smiles at himself, imagining it, but also chiding himself that he would get so worked up over it. Cait looks over at him and they both laugh. “I have to be honest, I was worried you may not want them and now I’m concerned you want four. The idea of having you be the mother of my children fills me with such pride, I want you to know that.”

“I was worried too, but it seems for naught. We really need to not stew on things, just put it out there. I’m not ready to a be a mum yet, though, are you willing to wait? I want some time for us to settle in as a married couple before we add children to the mix.”

“You know we are going to be asked about it as soon as we are married.” 

“Yeah, but we will do it when we are ready, not when they are ready, on our own terms right?” 

Niall nodded rubbing the back of his neck. “Okay, well kids, check. That was easier than I thought it would be.”

“Were you worried?” 

“No, yeah, maybe, we talk so much about everything and we hadn’t about that and I was afraid you wouldn’t want any, but then you work with children, so I didn’t really know.”

“Ni, I wish you had brought it up sooner. I’m beginning to believe that in our relationship everything is meant to be. It’s almost too perfect, in a way, but what did your mum call it?”

“Cinniúint? Fate”

“Yes, that’s it. Have you noticed everything is working out perfectly, it just feels right. Comfortable almost, secure in our decisions and what not. I think about it and it’s almost like the stars aligned and cupid shot his arrow through us.”

“Now, don’t jinks us luv.”

“Ni, seriously though. Think of the stories we will tell our children, even our own friends can’t believe it. I’m not saying we don’t have serious things to figure out and we face similar challenges of other couples, but it has been a positive journey, not one wraught with bickering, arguments, negatively. I feel lucky that everything just clicks.” 

“I’ve noticed it too. Believe it or not, and I’m thankful. So, we click, huh? Okay, let’s put your theory to a test. Let’s talk wedding.”

“Okay, I will ask something, and then let’s answer at the same time.”

Niall nods.

“Which season?” 

“Fall.” “Autumn,” they both say and look at each other in with a little bit of alarm. 

“Indoor or outdoor?” 

“Outdoor.” 

“Ireland or London?” 

“London.”

“Time of day?”

“Sunset.”

“Honeymoon-hot or cold?”

“Hot.”

By now, they are both shaking their heads.

“Food-finger foods or dinner?

“Dinner.”

“Colors?”

“Fall colors,” they both say and then Cait adds in “sunflowers.” Niall nodding and smiling.

“Cake flavors?” They pause for a moment with this one and then both turn to each other. 

“Pumpkin.” “But could we have some lemon too?” Cait asks. Niall laughs, nodding, “of course.” 

“Okay, now for a more serious question, this could break it for us. Buttercream or cream cheese frosting?” 

Niall looks at Cait, “cream cheese, pumpkin and cream cheese are the only way to go.” 

Cait is quiet for a moment and hides her face from Niall. “Well, we can’t get married because I’m a buttercream girl all the way. That’s it, then, turn the car around, we aren’t soulmates.”

Niall thinks she is joking, but her poker face is strong on this one and she is wearing sunglasses, so he can’t see her tell, that glint in her eye, so he says, “but anyone knows that buttercream with lemon is the way to go.” Cait turns to him and gives him a smile. 

They laugh at that and then keep laughing when they realize they really are in sync. 

“So did we just plan our wedding?”

“I think we got off to a good start, but we need to discuss more, can we pull over for lunch and do it?” 

At the thought of food, Niall’s stomach growls and Cait smiles, putting her hand on it, “your stomach is always the reliable one when it hears food.” 

Niall pulls into a nearby café, not even thinking about being in public, he hears squeals and turns around seeing some young girls run up to him. He greets them with a smile and poses for pictures and autographs. Cait stood on the other side of the car smiling, but not speaking until one of the girls asked if she was his girlfriend. Again, he didn’t know what to say because they hadn’t spoken about it yet, but Cait saved him, walking up saying, “I am, but you can’t say anything, okay? We are in the early steps and would like some anonymity for a little bit, would you do that for us?” 

Ever faithful fans, the girls agreed, nodding their heads smiling. “And if you wouldn’t mind, could you not share that yet so we can enjoy some lunch?” Niall asks. The girls agreed as well and the couple walks in. “That’s another thing we need to discuss because not every fan is going to keep quiet.” Cait nods in agreement. 

Once they order, Cait says, “let’s talk budget, my parents are wanting to know what we are looking at.” 

“On that,” Niall pauses and takes a breath, “I would like to pay for everything, but I want to recognize that I don’t think you will let me and that is okay. I don’t want to fight you, but paying for our wedding would make me really happy. I don’t want you to not have something you really want because it’s too expensive, if it makes you happy, I want you to do it,” Niall says. 

Cait looks at him and sees the sincerity in his eyes. He is always respectful of her wishes and he seems to understand her pride, but if that is what he wants, she wants to let him, except for one thing. “Let’s say I agree,” Niall’s eyes widen at that, but Cait holds up her finger, “there has to be one condition.” 

“What is it?”

“I want to pay for my dress, if you let me do that, you can pay for everything else.” 

“Is that at all? You didn’t even put up a fight.”

Cait nods, “I know that being with you means and you paying for things comes with it, I know we have joked in the past, but I know it is important to you and I will let you, but the moment you feel like I’m taking advantage, you have to tell me.” 

Niall leans up and kisses her forehead, “the very fact you would say that, makes me know you would never and thank you for letting me and I agree, the dress is yours.”

“AND, you don’t get to see it before the wedding.” 

“Never.”

“And no snooping.”

Niall shakes his head, but offers up a mischievous grin. Cait cocks her eye at him. “I already called my accountant and asked for another credit card to be issued in your name, so you can use that for anything you want okay? Promise me you will.”

Cait doesn’t like it, but nods knowing it is not a necessary battle and she needs to accept it, but then another thought occurs to her. “Do we need to have a prenup? Would you want that?” 

Niall looks back, startled at the question. The thought had never crossed his mind. “Do you want one?” 

“I think we should, just to stop talk because I don’t like having the idea of having separate accounts when we are married. I want the money we earn once we are married to be our money, but I’m not stupid, I know you make more. I have some endorsements and money invested from my winnings from early in my career and I’m not worth as much as you, but from the interest, I am comfortable. I’m sure you have accountants and what not, but I want us to have a checking and savings account that are ours. We can keep everything we have earned before we are married, separate, but once we are married it goes into our joint account and build it together. What do you think?”

He looks at her thinking about what she is saying because to be honest, he would give her the moon and all of his money, but he respects her point. “If that is what you want, then ya’, I’m fine with it. Will it let you feel better about me spending money on you and you using a credit card to buy things?” Cait nods. “Then yes, of course. So, we will keep what have separate and once we marry, any new earnings will be combined? Is that what you are proposing?” 

Cait nods and Niall is already thinking because he likes the idea of it being what they build together. Cait adds, “because when we can’t do what we do anymore, we can tap into that money for retirement and what not and still have grand adventures once we are old and gray.” 

“Old and gray, you sure ya’ want to still be with me then?”

“Always, boo.”

“Okay, back to the wedding, we said fall, 2021, a year away, but what about your touring?”

“That’s the thing, I really don’t know. That’s not how I want to start out if we have the wedding me being away on tour once we are married,” Niall shrugs and continues, “I mean, you could quit teaching and travel with me, but I know it’s not fair to you and I would never ask you to quit teaching,” Niall finishes. 

Cait is thinking about what he said and appreciative that he doesn’t want her to quit teaching, at least not yet. She asks, “how would you feel about a long engagement and look at Fall, 2022?” 

Niall first inclination is to say no, but the more he thinks, it is not a bad idea. 

Cait explains, “We have some big things happening in the next year and throwing the added stress of a wedding on top of that, would not be healthy. I’m a list person and there are somethings I want to do before I marry, I want you to think about your list too. Things we want to do together, things we want or have to do on our own, like your tour. When we do those things and marry after, it doesn’t leave room for regrets or resentment towards one another because we feel tied down. Once we marry, we do the same thing, we make a list of things we want to do together before we have kids so we aren’t frustrated or resentful of them because our life isn’t as free anymore. . .” she trails off unconsciously putting her hands up. “I don’t know if I’m making sense.” 

“No, no, you are. I’m listening and agreeing. I hear what you are saying and I like the idea of waiting. I like the idea of lists too. It makes perfect sense and it’s reasonable. To be honest, I can’t fathom an idea of planning a wedding right now, there are too many things unsettled. But we do need a time frame, if anything it will get the mums off our backs,” he says with a chuckle. 

“True, what if we were to hire a wedding planner to help us, take some stress off too?”

“Yeah, I like that too. So, Fall 2022 then?

“Yes, I think that would be perfect. Its two years away, but it will give us time to carry out some things and then we can focus on us. Mums may not be happy, but I think it is practical.” 

After that, they enjoy their lunch and continue talking, going back and forth between topics until they finish and head out to their destination, leaving the café smiling and holding hands. A couple of hours later they arrive, after Cait keeps asking him to pull over to take pictures. Seeing the Lake District has been on her list for a while, but she has never made it that direction yet. The land of Wordsworth makes her happy. 

Niall doesn’t complain he loves seeing the child-like anticipation on her face as she takes pictures. When they pull up to their Airbnb, a remodeled barn from the 1800s, Cait’s eyes light up and he knows he choose correctly. It really is too big for their needs, but he loved that is was tucked away and he paid extra for a stocked frig and pantry. 

“How charming, I love this and the views, oh, we are going to have so much fun,” Cait was practically squealing. 

And that right there, that was what he missed about her. The childlike exuberance and the smile he loves to see on her face.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cait and Niall talk wedding and living arrangements while in London, their secret could be revealed.

When Niall woke up the next morning, he was alone in the bed and the sun was up. He wanted to snuggle with Cait, but her side was cold and he knew she had been up for a bit; he could faintly hear music playing as he laid there thinking back to the conversations from yesterday. Niall couldn’t believe he was concerned about children and how easily Cait gave into finances and what not. It almost seemed too easy, but he feels like it shows that she is starting to understand that nothing would make him happier than to spoil her rotten.

With a groan he gets up and heads to the kitchen where he hears the music. Crossing his arms, he leans against the door frame taking in the view of her in panties and shirt dancing and singing while making breakfast. He is taking in the sexy sight knowing he has more mornings like this to look forward to and that brings a big smile to his face. When a new song comes on, he starts to sing and Cait turns around, smiling and yells “dance party.” Before they know it, they are dancing like no one is watching and Niall is having the time of his life. He never thought he would ever have this as he brings his arms around his world and twirls her around the kitchen.

When they stop, both out of breath, Cait kisses him, when they pull away, she says, “Top of the mornin’ to ya.’”

“Same to you,” Niall says a little winded. “When did you get up?”

“Around 5:30, went out for a run. Training doesn’t stop even on vacation ya’ know,” she says when she sees the shocked look on Niall’s face.

“Do I want to know how far?”

“Twenty, today.”

“Oh, is that all?”

“Yep, that means tomorrow I can take it easy. But I’m famished, let’s eat.”

Niall can only shake his head, he has thought it so many times, but she amazes him.

They cleaned up breakfast and packed for a picnic lunch, planning on doing some hiking and exploring in Lake District National Park. In reality, it was Niall chasing after Cait as she zoomed from one place to another taking pictures and pointing out things. He wasn’t complaining, he loved watching her and seeing her face light up at random little things that he would have never noticed. For lunch, they ate up on a cliff overlooking the lake with beautiful views.

“I could get used to seeing this, maybe we need to rethink the honeymoon and go mountains,” Niall says.

“Or, we could get something in the mountains when we want to get away.”

“We could, but what mountains? Rockies, Highlands, Alps, Pyrenees?”

Cait looks at him then, not sure if he is joking or serious and she shakes her head. “I don’t think I will ever get used to that, because the fact that you could be serious blows my mind.”

“Well, you don’t have much of a choice, but if we wanted to get a place we could, think about it.”

The two are sitting shoulder to shoulder enjoying the view and Niall thinks this is a good time to talk about their main place to live.

“Speaking of houses, you know how we talked about moving in together and you said you wanted it to be a new place that we could grow into it together?”

“Umm hmm.”

“Well, I called my estate agent and found out the other person who owns the flat on the top floor is wanting to sell.” At that statement Cait sits up and looks at Niall. “So, I inquired about it and then asked a contractor if they could come and look at my flat and the other flat and combine them to make one flat.” Cait’s eyes are huge now.

“You are not mad, are you?” Cait shakes her head so Niall goes on. “So, one of the things I asked was if we could have a lap pool for you to train and also put in a gym.” Niall sees her eyes get even wider and he continues, “I was thinking we could design it ourselves and make it ours and it doesn’t have to look anything like what I have now. We’d start from scratch and build it together. You said you wanted a place close to where you work and you love the area and I do too. We both said we didn’t want a yard, but we would have terrace space where we could have some grass, you could have your own study. We could design a kitchen that would give us enough room, I want a real studio, think of the possibilities. It saves us from looking for a place and we wouldn’t have to settle,” he finishes for unsure of what is going on in Cait’s head. She still hasn’t said anything. “I mean only, if you want to. I haven’t purchased anything. I wanted to wait to see what you thought, but the contractor told me this week that a pool was possible.”

After a silence that has Niall sweating, Cait quietly says “you would do that for us, for me?”

“Oh Cait,” Niall brings her in his arms, “when are you going to realize that I would give you the planet if that is what you want. I would do anything for you.” He kisses the top of her head and holds her realizing she still hasn’t answered and her heart is racing. He hears her hiccup and looks down realizing she is crying.

Quickly he turns her to face him and holds his hands to her face wiping away her tears gently. “Luv, why are you crying. Did I go too far, are you upset with me?”

Cait is so overcome with emotions that all she can do is shake her head no and Niall feels a bit better.

“What’s wrong, please I don’t like to see you upset. Are these happy tears or sad tears?”

“It’s, it’s just, umm, I don’t know how to explain it, . . .” Cait keeps crying and hiccupping and doesn’t know how to express how she is feeling. So many thoughts are racing through her head. “Fuck it” she thinks and she leans up and takes Niall’s mouth in hers and she pours everything she is feeling into the kiss trying to communicate because for once she has no words.

Niall is taken by surprise as he is pushed onto his back but who is he to complain. When they break away, both breathless and seeing that Cait is no longer crying, he says, “I guess those were happy tears?”

Cait smiles and nods as she lays on top of him, folding her hands across his chest and resting her chin on it. Niall rubs her back and asks again, “why were you crying, luv?”

She takes a moment to collect her thoughts trying to figure out how to put into words what she feels. “I had no words, you are so thoughtful, caring, considerate, that I didn’t think I could ever have something like this and now you are willing to give up your own place to make it our place. Who does that? And it’s for me, for us. I keep thinking maybe this is all a dream and I will wake up and it will be March. I feel like Cinderella and you are my prince that I never thought would ever love me.”

“Oh Cait, what else do I have do to show you I love you, you and only you. And I want to do whatever I can to make you happy. I don’t ever want to see you cry or hurt, even if its happy tears.

“I know, sometimes I get emotional. Those were happy tears.”

“So, what do you think about my idea? I think I know, but I want to make sure.”

“Are you sure you want to give up your flat, I know how much you love it?”

“Yes, but I should tell you. I was hoping I could move into yours while they do the construction, it could take up to 18 months, but I would be touring during some of that and it fits our timeline.”

“Then, yes, I think that would be perfect. We can build our dream house together.”

“Well, okay then. I will call my agent when we get back.”

“Wedding, tour, a remodel, teaching, my race, we don’t like to make things easy, huh?”

“No, but the time will fly by and before we know it, we will have a brand-new place to call home.”

“We are blessed, we really are and I hope you know I don’t take this for granted.”

Niall looks at her, “I don’t think you do, luv.”

Too soon, they head back down, but both are filled with excitement and hope of what they can build together.

**That same day, London - Harry and Lou’s home –**

“Have you reached them yet?” Harry asks walking into the kitchen.

“No, you?” Louis says looking up from his phone.

“No, both Niall and Cait aren’t responding.” Harry answers, throwing the rag on the counter and looking at the article online again. There are pics of Cait and Louis at the golf club, holding hands. Then one of Harry and Cait hugging after their jog. Another of Zayn and her from the rehearsal for the concert and finally one of she and Niall walking along the street holding hands. The headline reads “Who is One Direction’s New Mystery Girl?”

“Did he say something in the group chat?” Louis asks, opening up their chat and rereading it. “Niall texted last Monday and he hasn’t texted since then.

“Did Cait mention anything when you met for coffee?” Harry asks.

“No, she was tired, but didn’t say anything at all.”

“Liam, Zayn, did they say anything?”

“Nope. But Liam is going to call Maura and see if she knows anything.”

“Crap, I want to run over to their flat and see if something happened. It is not like them to both have their phones off and they need to know.” Harry grabs his keys and Louis puts on his shoes, “I’m coming with.”

As soon as they are out the door, the paps are on them snapping pics yelling out questions. The guys climb in their car, not bothering to answer, but they are both upset with the questions.

“Who is the girl?” “Is she an escort?” “What role does she play in the band?” “Why is she with each of you?”

“Ugh, fookin’ hell! Cait doesn’t deserve this. She is going to be crushed. Do you think they already know and that’s why they aren’t answering?”

“No, they came out this morning and the pics are so fuzzy, it’s hard to make out who she is. If I didn’t know her, I couldn’t tell who she is. Everything right now is speculation, let’s hope it will blow over.”

The guys drive up to Niall’s flat and go into the parking garage and they don’t see Niall’s car, but they see Cait’s. Parking quickly, they head up to Niall’s flat and Harry let’s himself in calling out. He already knows its empty, shades drawn, lights off, none of Niall’s energy is there.

“Let’s head down to Cait’s.”

Louis has a key to her flat and again they find it empty too. Their phones ding and it’s Liam telling them that Maura didn’t know anything.

“Okay, they are together and in Niall’s car. Should we call Jill or his bodyguard, Clint, she may know or Clint may be with them?”

The boys each take one and call. From Jill’s voice, she can’t find him either and needs to talk about the situation and Clint said that Niall gave him the week off.

“They must have gone somewhere, but I’m going to kill ‘im for leaving his phone off,” Louis says.

“Let’s call Zayn and Liam and come up with a plan about this. I don’t want to upset Cait, this looks bad.”

Louis calls the other two boys and they talk about what to do. Zayn and Liam are concerned for Cait, but agree with Harry that the pics are so fuzzy, it is hard to make her out. Zayn suggests they don’t say anything and ignore it as gossip.

“We could say she is our photographer and since she doesn’t have a website, no one would be able to track her,” Liam suggests.

“But that is acknowledging it, let’s see if this will blow over. If anything, we say she is a good friend and leave it at that,” Harry replies.

“We are going to need to talk to Cait though, this won’t be the last of this,” Zayn says.

They all unfortunately agree, concerned for the couple.


	17. Chapter 17

Cait feels warm all over when she wakes the next morning, only partly due to the warm body wrapped around her. Last night, when they made love, it was on another level, something she can’t explain, but definitely something she would like to do again. She feels sated and does a luxurious stretch before she goes to get up when she hears a muffled “no” and an arm tighten around her. 

She twists her body around and kisses Niall on the nose, “morning fiancé,” she says with a smile. 

“Why are you so happy this early?” 

“I don’t know, it could be the company, get up and go running with me.” 

“Are you a sadist? You want me to leave this?” 

“Well, technically, you wouldn’t be leaving this, just the laying down part.” “Ummph,” is the only answer she receives. 

Grinning, “I could make you.” “And how are ya’ going to do that?” When she popped her head out from under the covers a bit later to a hazy looking fiancé, “I don’t know if you know how this game works, not that I’m complaining. But I definitely don’t want to get up now.” 

“That was just a little thing to look forward to if you go with me,” Cait chuckles as she gets up. 

“You play dirty, but I’ll go.” Cait pulls her hair back into a pony and just smiles as she leaves the room. 

The two run far longer than Niall wanted to, but they got lost in the beauty of the area and they walk back to the barn holding hands. Not really wanting to return to reality, but they need to head back shortly after lunch, both have obligations but the getaway served the purpose and Niall and Cait have made some decisions. After a nice shower together, they eat lunch and head out. 

“I’m going to call my mum and tell her we have a date and I can text your mum too. I have to admit, it has been nice not having our phones with us,” Cait says as she turns her on.

“It has, I like your off the grid idea, we need to do more of these.” 

“Oh shit!” Cait says as her phone keeps pinging and she sees messages from her friends and the guys, as well as missed calls from her mum Harry and Louis. She tells Niall and he turns on his phone too, seeing the same. 

“What the hell happened?” Cait asks. 

Niall pulls over because one of Harry’s texts had a link and he clicks on it, opening an article in The SUN. Furious can’t even begin to describe how he feels and he grips the phone tight. He glances sideways to Cait and she is reading her texts. He sees the pictures and reads the allegations and then he sees red. “FUCK! Those fuckers, how could they? 

“What, the guys just want me to call them, but no one is saying why?”

He looks at Cait and sees fear in her eyes and as much as he knew it was too good to be true that they have avoided press so far, this is not what he wanted. “Ni, your scaring me. Did something happen to the guys?” 

“No, the SUN published pictures of you with the guys and myself, questioning who you are.” 

“Okay, so? Do they have my name?” 

“No, but they are making assumptions.” 

“Let me see it?” Niall was hesitant, but he handed his phone over and closely watches Cait for a reaction as she reads it. When she is finished, she starts laughing. Niall looks at her incredulously, “why are you laughing?” 

“They really are fishing, aren’t they? Those pics are so fuzzy, you can’t even see my face, I look like an amoeba.” Niall huffs at that. “They are saying those insulting things to get a rise out of you all to see who is going to come out and explain who I am, to defend me. Saying Liam and Zayn are cheating on Maya and Gigi is a stretch. No one who knows is going to believe that. I think the best way to deal with this is to not. There is no proof and yeah, so each of you met with a girl. What’s not to say I’m an old friend.” 

“But I don’t want you to be hurt.” 

“Ni, hun, they aren’t going to hurt me because we know the truth. I’ve already done one round with the rags when I swam. They are vultures and it must be a slow news day. Let me call Louis, he won’t cuss me out like he would you and I will follow up with the others. Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure, we could release a statement and say we are engaged. Do a press release or something.” 

“No, absolutely not, we will wait until school starts. I don’t want a circus around my students and I need to maintain some credibility. We will control this narrative and let the public know when we are ready.” 

Niall looks at her in awe, “have I told you that I think you are one of the strongest people I have ever met?” 

“Yes, but this is where I put my foot down. I won’t have those jerks control our lives and that’s it. I will call my solicitor if I have to.” 

Niall shakes his head, and will follow Cait’s lead. He texts the group chat before he starts driving and of course gets his fair share of being cussed out for not letting anyone know where they are, a bunch of mother hens, they are. He takes their lectures and says that Cait will call them soon. That quiets them down and he puts his phone down and pulls back on the road. 

Cait calls and Louis answers immediately using his concerned, but upset voice. “Cait, luv, you all can’t disappear like that, you had us worried sick.”

“I love you too. We wanted to get off the grid, but you are right, next time, we will let you know that we are turning our phones off for a lag.” 

She hears him sigh, “the article, did you see it?” “Yes, and don’t worry about it. All is good.” 

“How can you say that? The paps were outside our house and they asked horrible questions about you, we need to protect you from those fuckers.” 

“Have you ever played poker?” 

“What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“They are bluffing, fishing because they don’t know who I am and they want you all to come out and comment, but we are not going to give them the satisfaction. Come one, you know this, they will drop it until the next big thing happens.”

“Cait, that is not how it works, they are bloodhounds, even our fans are, they will figure it out.”

“Lou, I hear what you are saying, but remember the Wellington video you showed me? To this day, no one can figure out what you two were doing, heck, if I didn’t know it was Harry and you, I wouldn’t know it was. The same for this, everything is fuzzy.”

“I hear you, but your reputation is what worries me. You aren’t a part of this world, they could cause so many problems for you.”

“I can take care of myself. This isn’t my first rodeo . . .” 

“I know that Cait, but this is a whole other level, this is different than sports.” 

“That may be,” Cait sighs. “What do the rest of the guys say?” 

“They are just as angry as me, we want to defend and protect you.” 

Cait laughs when she pictures the guys arming themselves and running into battle to fight for her honor. Niall looks at her in surprise, not finding this situation funny at all.   
“Have you all spoken with your publicists? What do they say?” 

“They want us to put out a statement, Harry is there now trying to do damage control.”

“Okay, I may not have experience, but only my mum, Bella and Dani have texted me about this and none of my other friends so don’t you think that others who know me, would have reached out?”

“Where are you going with this?”

“What if we were to see if this goes away, Niall and I will be discreet in public and if it dies down, then we have nothing to worry about it. If it is still a thing in the next few weeks, then you all can release a statement or if it’s brought up at an interview, say I was the photographer for the album cover and the slideshow from the concert and those pictures were me getting to know each of you all individually. We don’t have to say my name and maybe Niall’s publicist or someone’s can put a website together with the pictures and some we didn’t use. Nobody would connect me with L Photography. It’s that simple. If anyone asks why they can’t get a hold of me, we could say it was a one-time thing and I’m a friend of a friend.”

Niall keeps looking at her during her discourse impressed and thinking it might work. 

Louis thinks over what she said, “Harry and I were talking about that too, but hearing you say it, I think it actually might work. When did you become a spin doctor? Yeah, yeah, you are impressive. I think this could work.” Louis adds as he thinks about it some more. 

“Thank you, dear. I try.” 

“Let me talk it over with the guys, what does Ni say?”

Cait looks at Niall, “What do you think?” 

Niall thinks it is not a bad plan, “I think it could work.”

“Ni is on board.”

“Okay, if this is what you want to do, we will support you, but I don’t like it.”

“I know Lou, but it will buy us a little bit of time until school starts and then we will make a statement or something.”

Louis and Cait say goodbye and she releases a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She knew this would happen, but she had no idea it would happen this quickly and like this. Cait feels Niall grab her hand and holds it and she looks at him. 

“Luv, I’m so sorry, we haven’t talked about a press release or anything. I didn’t want this to happen this way . . .”

“Ni, I’m not mad, more irritated than anything. I just needed to make it until mid-September and it would be fine. But we have a plan and whatever happens, happens. We will deal and it is not the end of the world. I think you guys are more concerned about upsetting me than anything else and I assure you, I can take care of myself.”

“I know, but it’s my job to protect you and it is my career that caused problems.”

“No, there is no problem here. It is a fishing expedition to see if we will bite and the photography thing is a good ruse to keep them away for a bit.”

“But the names . . .” 

“Not anything, I haven’t heard before in the swim circuit.” Niall pops his head up at her concern showing on his face. “Ni, when you are at the top, there is jealousy and girls would say anything to try to throw me off and bother me. You tend to toughen up pretty fast. I killed them with kindness and gave them no room or proof to start rumors. Think about it, my friend circle is really small, there is a reason for it. I’m okay, really. I appreciate everyone’s concern, but you all do not have to worry. But now I need to call mum, Bells and Dani before they send out the cavalry looking for us.”

Niall has so many thoughts going through his head hearing Cait talk, even while listening to her conversation with Louis. She is so strong, but then she would need to be to face his world. All he can do is sigh, not sure what the next couple of weeks will look like.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cat is out of the bag.

The next few weeks for Cait were spent training and tapering for her race, as well as working with her swim team. She ended up being right and the hub bub around the article and it died down with no statement issued, but Niall and she kept a low profile, not going out in public together. She also didn’t wear her ring in public either, which she hated, but this whole thing was her idea anyway. They did visit the other guys and her parents discussing wedding plans and enjoying each other’s company. Their parents understood her reasoning about waiting and Maura and her mum can’t wait to go wedding dress shopping with her. 

Another surprise for her is that Louis and she are becoming very close. He is quickly becoming one of her best friends along with Bells and Dani. They text often and since they don’t want to be seen in public, they are at each other’s flat. She listens to some of his new songs and he likes to sample the food she makes. They talk a lot covering many topics and she has got him to join her in the gym. There is something about him that she clicks with, another reason to be thankful with her new found family. 

Niall on the other hand is feeling restless. He was holding his figurative breath waiting for the fallout from the article, but nothing came of it and by mutual agreement, all the guys stayed off social media to silently protest. Jill was not happy and asked about the pictures and who the woman was, Niall said she will find out when he is ready, but he knows she is starting to be suspicious. The situation made him antsy with Cait gone for most of the day and he misses her, but he has never had a regular 8 to 5 job. Sure, he is playing golf and working on music, but he wants to be with her. When he can, he joins her at the pool to work out and Cait asks him to wait until after her race to start the renovation of their new home, even though he is eager to get started. He stills needs to purchase the other flat, meet the architect, and find an interior designer; one thing Cait asked that they have. 

Niall decided to ring up Jill and ask if she could look at scheduling a few concert dates in Britain or Ireland for the fall and she said she would see what she could manage. He was itchy to be on stage and perform and he wanted Cait to see him too. He also told her that nothing can be planned for fall of 2022. To Jill’s credit she only asked if this had anything to do with the woman in the picture. Niall decided on a non-answer and said she would keep it off the calendar. 

Since Cait was training so much and super busy, Niall liked to pick her up after swim practice, just his way of helping her out because he knows she is tired. It was thing he could do to help her prepare for her race and he read up on the appropriate food she should eat. On one particular day, Cait was running late and Niall watched as the swimmers left practice and then pulled up by the door, typically he hangs back so no one would recognize him. Soon, Cait was opening the door, jumping in, apologizing for being late and leaning over to give him a kiss. But this was not her typical greeting peck, but more. She had exciting news and she couldn’t wait to share it. When they broke away, Niall looked at her a little astonished, “not that I’m complaining, but what brought that on?” 

“I’m just really happy.”

It was at that moment that they heard a “Holy shit!” and they both looked up to see two swimmers looking at them in astonishment, one of them Zach, the boy Niall met at the pool. Both swimmers’ mouths were open and the girl, dropped her things staring at the couple. 

Cait was the first to come to her senses, “Oh crap, let me go talk to them.” Niall stays there stunned, hundreds of thoughts going through his head about what this could mean for him, for them, for their relationship, will Cait be upset, how will they do damage control. 

Cait takes a cleansing breath as she climbs out of the car and with a look at Niall, she approaches Zach and Jenna. She purposely stood on the other side of them, making them turn their backs to the car and face her. 

“Hi guys,” she says casually looking at the two of them seeing who would speak first. Her money was on Zach. “Sorry about that, you shouldn’t have seen that, it was very unprofessional of me.” 

“Umm, is that the guy who worked out with you a couple of weeks ago?” Zach asked. 

“It is,” Cait replied. 

“So, is he your boyfriend now?” Zach asked.

“More or less,” Cait answered with a smile. 

“Is he better than the last dude?” 

“Oh, I would say definitely yes,” Cait answers smiling. 

“He looks like Niall Horan from One Direction,” Jenna says turning around to look again. Niall just waves. 

“Yeah, well,” Cait says scratching her head hesitating, “he gets that a lot.” 

This time both students turn around and look at him and Niall sees they are studying him closely. 

“Wait,” Jenna says looking from Cait to Niall to Cait to Niall, not really believing her eyes. 

“You’re dating Niall Horan from One Direction!” Jenna all but screams. 

“I knew I recognized him, but couldn’t remember where,” Zach adds. 

“Keep your voice down Jenna,” Cait says and realizing it was going to happen sooner or later, she motions for Niall to come out. 

Niall steps out seeing that their secret may no longer be safe. “Lock up the car, let’s go back inside,” Cait tells him. 

“Can you guys text your parents and tell them you are going to be a bit late, we can drive you home? We need to talk,” Cait asks.

Both students nod and the four go inside and sit down. “Zach, Jenna, this is Mr. Horan.” 

“Niall, please,” Niall says holding out his hand. 

“No, he is Mr. Horan to you and yes, he is my boyfriend,” Cait says as the kids introduce themselves and Niall recognizes Zach from before. 

Jenna is awestruck and keeps looking at the two of them. “How? When? Where, How?” 

“Breathe Jens, give Coach a chance to answer,” Zach tells her.

“Well, during quarantine, we started talking and realized we clicked and then we started dating, going out and then it went from there,” Cait replies. 

“He was the guy up in the stands at practice,” Jenna states as a fact. 

“I was,” Niall responds. 

“I thought you were weird because you had a hoodie and hat and it was so hot in there, now I know why,” Jenna says. 

“We were trying to keep it on the downlow, we don’t want to go public yet . . .” Cait is cut off. 

“You were the girl in the pictures in the paper. Oh my God, it makes sense now. I thought that image looked familiar, but never thought my swim coach would be dating . . .” Jenna motions her hands up and down in Niall’s direction. 

Cait just has to laugh, “well thank you for that vote of confidence, but yes, that was me.” 

“You know all of them? You talked to them, touched them . . .” Jenna exclaims looking like she is in shock.

“Calm down Jens, let Coach talk,” Zach says once again. 

Niall is sitting there watching this play out with an amused smile on his face. 

“Yes, Jenna. I’m actually really close with them because they are very close to Mr. Horan and he wanted me to meet them, just like he met my friends. But that is not important and I need you two to listen to me closely. We are not ready for people to know about our relationship because of me being a teacher and coach, it could make it hard for me to keep doing those things. You don’t want me to have to leave do you?” Cait looks at Jenna and Zach very seriously and Niall has to hide is smile because he knows what she is doing. 

Both students look at her stunned and shake their heads no.

“Okay then, I don’t want to cause a disruption when school starts if this gets out and right now, other than our close friends and family, you two are the only ones that know. We plan to make a statement, but not yet. I know you all want to come watch me race and Mr. Horan will be there, but you can’t say anything before then. The rest of the team can’t know at all. Will you promise me that you can do that for me, for Mr. Horan? He is very important to me and I don’t want to break up with him because this got out.”

Both students turn to look at Niall and he smiles. Then Zach’s eyes narrow remembering the previous asshole boyfriend coach had. 

“Why do you like Coach?” he says. 

Niall is a little taken aback by the question and he looks to Cait who just shrugs. 

“Um, well, her intelligence and inquisitiveness first drew me to her and I didn’t even know what she looked like. Then her compassion and . . .” he looks at Cait because he never told her this. “. . . by our conversations, I could tell that she had been hurt really bad and I wanted to protect her and make the pain go away and make her happy. From there, once we met face to face, her smile and her eyes drew me in and now that I know her, she is so talented, caring, hard-working, loving, and well, she could kick my butt with how strong she is. I guess I’m in awe of her,” he finishes not really looking up, but noticing it is quiet. 

He looks up at Cait who has something close to tears in her eyes, Jenna looks like a lovesick puppy and Zach is nodding his head. 

“You’ll do, I guess,” Zach says. 

Cait knows that is high praise coming from Zach and she smiles. “Thanks, I think,” Niall answers. 

“Okay,” Cait says trying to get to the matter at hand and feeling very loved right now. “Can you both assure me that you will keep quiet and not say anything until the time is right? Mr. Horan will probably be coming to a lot of swim meets and maybe some practices and I want you to see him as an ordinary guy, who has had amazing experiences. When I do introduce him to the team, you can ask all the questions you want and take pictures and I bet he would sign some autographs.” 

“Really?” Jenna asks. Niall nods his head. “I want you to know that I really love ‘Heartbreak Weather,’ seriously, no skips on that album.” 

“Thank you, that is nice to hear,” Niall says. 

“So?” Cait asks. 

Both students look at each other, Cait isn’t worried about Zach, but Jenna is another matter. 

“I promise not to say anything as long as I can get pictures and autographs later,” Jenna says. 

Niall nods. 

“Coach, you know I’m good. But if he hurts you, it’s,” Zach says giving Niall a side eye, “over.” 

“Thank you for your support, Zach, and Jenna, I will sign and take pictures with you both when we go public,” Niall says. 

“Okay, so now that we got that squared away, let’s take you two home,” Cait says. 

The four climb into Niall’s Range Rover and Jenna seems to still be in shock. 

“I’ve seen your car after practice wondering who had the nice wheels, it was you all the time, huh?” Jenna asks. 

“It was, I didn’t want Miss Guion to have to walk home after a long day,” Niall says.

Cait and Niall hears Jenna whispers “he is so sweet, OMG,” and they smile.

“So where am I going?” 

Jenna lives closest and gives Niall directions. When they arrive, she hops out of the car with a ‘see ya’ later Coach,’ and stands next to the driver’s side waiting for Niall to lower the window. She offers her hand to Niall saying “Today has been one of the greatest days in my life Mr. Horan and thank you for the ride, I promise I won’t say anything.” Niall shakes her hand saying, “I’m sure you won’t, it was nice to meet you too.” 

They make sure she gets in okay and Zach gives directions to his home. He has known coach long enough that he feels comfortable asking, “so, ya’ all aren’t just dating, are you? You’re engaged?” 

Cait whips her head around at him, shocked “what makes you say that?”

“Well, your reaction just now for one, but how Mr. Horan spoke about ya’. The other guy never did that and then the look on your face when he did, plus that kiss had something to do with it too,” Zach says. 

Cait looks to Niall, sees him nod and turns back to Zach. “Yes, we are engaged, but again, you can’t tell anyone.” 

“I won’t, I promise and congrats, Mr. Horan, you will not find a more amazing woman than Coach.” 

“I agree Zach, she is more than amazing and I appreciate you following our wishes,” Niall says. 

They pull up to Zach’s home then and he hops out, thanking them and then glares at Niall and makes a motion pointing his fingers to his eyes and then back at Niall who nods in understanding. 

Once Zach is inside, they both look at each other and burst out laughing. “Well, that is not how I thought this evening would go,” Cait says. 

“Me neither, you have a fiercely protective student there and Jenna cracked me up. I don’t know if she was more surprised that you were dating at all or that you were dating me,” Niall says.

“Hey, be nice. They are good kids.”

“Yeah, with that little guilt trip you gave them. That is the second time I’ve seen you spin something to your favor. Another little skill, I never knew you had.”

“Needs must. Now, I’m starving, what’s our plan?”

“It’s almost too late to make something, take out and home?” 

Cait agrees and they head to their favorite Italian place. While Niall is inside, she is thinking about what she wanted to share with him. It’s big news, but now doesn’t feel like the right time, but she doesn’t know how long she can keep quiet. 

Inside Niall is thinking that he wants to know more about Cait’s previous boyfriend. Too many people have mentioned him and he is getting the idea that he was not a good person. It makes him remember their first interactions over Instagram and he knows she was hurt badly by her ex and they have an unspoken agreement to not speak about the past, but she is who he wants to spend the rest of his life and he wants to understand. What concerns Niall is there seems to be more to it and that worries him.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some drama enters the seemingly perfect life of Niall and Cait. And Cait shares some amazing news.

It is not until a few days later that Cait has a chance to tell Niall her big news. She makes a big dinner and can’t stop smiling. Niall notices and asks what is going on. 

Cait blushes and says, “Oh really, well, I kind of have a small bombshell to drop on you and I want to get your take on it because it concerns you too.” 

“Okay,” he takes a cleansing breath and puts both hands on the table, “lay it on me.” 

“So, my race in a few weeks, um, well, I have been garnering some attention, you know I did the magazine interview last month and I’ve done a few more interviews.” Niall looks at her nodding. 

“They are doing a whole, former national swimmer comes back for blah, blah, blah stuff. Well, today I had a call from the Team GB coach for track and field.” Niall raises his eyebrows in surprise as Cait continues, “I don’t know if I told you, but I’m seeded first in the race and my qualifying time is under the Olympic Trial time.” 

Niall is shocked, realizing Cait has not told him some important bits. “You have an Olympic Trial qualifying time and you didn’t tell me?” 

“Well, it didn’t matter, that’s the thing, I knew I may be close, but I didn’t dwell on it because it didn’t matter at the time,” she said with a smile. 

“If I make my time or better, I would qualify for the Trials next June, He wants to know if I do, would I accept the invitation to compete in the Olympic Trials for triathlon and then possibly compete next August in the Tokyo Olympics.”

“Shit, Cait, that’s amazing. For those that already qualified, what’s their times?” he asks. Cait tells him. “And what’s your time?” Cait says hers and Niall realizes that she is faster, a lot faster than the top seed right now. This could really happen.

When she sees the realization dawn on his face, “I know, right? I might have a chance. I just don’t know. This time, it is on my own terms, ya’ know? I’m my own coach, my own trainer, I don’t have all these people telling me what to do. I’m in the driver’s seat now and it got me thinking that what is the worst that could happen? Maybe I could do it, that’s kind of why I wanted to wait on the wedding.”

Niall is sitting there stunned, his food forgotten. 

“Niall, I think I want to go for it, but this is not just my decision, but both of ours because it will cause a lot of disruption in our lives, but I don’t want to look back and regret that I didn’t try.” 

When she finishes, saying the last a little more softly than the other, Cait watches Niall’s face closely worried about his reaction. 

Niall is speechless listening to her explain and take it all in. He was under the impression that the Olympics were behind Cait, but to hear her talk about it again, honestly is a surprise. 

“Cait, wow, shit, that’s a lot. Oh my God, this is huge, huge!” This time Niall gets out of his chair and pulls Cait up so he can hug her. “I’m so proud of you, that is awesome.” He kisses her then, breaking away, he holds her hands, “Are you sure this is that what you want?” 

“I think so, I’m in a better head space than before and I can train while you are touring and I wouldn’t miss any school because it is in the summer. It lines up perfectly, but I want you to be on board because it affects you too. I just don’t want to look back on it and have ‘what ifs’. I didn’t back then, but I may this time around.”

Niall takes her hands and looks her in the eyes, “Darling, I will support you in whatever you want to do. To think, my future wife, an Olympian. Wow, just wow. I’m so proud of you.” 

“So, you’re okay with it?”

“Yes, luv, yes, and I will be there to support you every step of the way, I always will. I want you to know that,” he finishes as he kisses her trying to pour all his feelings into it. 

Cait releases a huge sigh of relief because she really wants to try for this. 

During dinner, Niall asks her all sorts of questions to better understand and after dinner, Cait calls her parents to tell them and Niall calls his. He is not surprised when they asked what they could do to help, his dad even asked if he could fly over and cheer her on. 

Next he opens the group chat to tell the guys. 

“What are you all doing Sept. 1?”

The replies were mostly question marks, but Louis responds, “Is that the day of Cait’s race?”

“Yeah.”

“What race?” Liam asks.

“Cait is doing the Ironman in Weymouth, right?” Louis asks. 

“Yes, and she just told me that she is seeded first and if she goes under four hours, she qualifies for the Olympic Trials.”

“What’s her seed time?” Zayn asks. 

“She made it in a non-qualifying event, but it was 3:58.”

“Holy shit, that’s amazing.” Louis says.

“Can we come watch?” Harry asks.

“That’s why I was texting, wanted to know if you all wanted to surprise her and come out?”

“I was planning too,” Louis says.

“Me too, then,” Harry responds although Niall figured they would both come. 

“I’m in,” Liam says. 

“Me too, so is Gigi,” Zayn answers. 

“Fair warning, she will have some swimmers there and two already know about us.” 

“It’s nothing we can’t handle, this will be cool,” Harry says.

“Want me to get us a house to rent, she has to head down on Thursday, you all could come on Friday?” Niall says. 

The guys all agree and Niall needs to discuss it with Cait. He is so proud he can burst. 

August flies by and Cait is preparing for the new school year, splitting her focus between training and school during the day and relaxing with Niall in the evening. Thankfully, Zach and Jenna kept their word, but Cait doesn’t miss the knowing smile they give her whenever they see her climb into Niall’s car. 

The week of the race, Niall had rented a big house for everyone including her parents, Bells and Dani, as well as the guys. He even hired a chef to cook for all of them and shared Cait’s dietary needs so she can be completely focused on the race. Cait smiled and hugged him when he told her. Currently, he is sitting in her flat watching as she packs all her gear. Not knowing how the race plays out, she is playing one of the races on the telly so he can get an idea. She is assigned a person to help with gear, but he offered to do it. She smiled and shook her head. 

“It’s better if you don’t. When I race, if something goes wrong, I might hold it against you forever, but if someone else messes up, it’s not as bad because I chose them as my helper.” 

To Niall it makes sense, but he has never seen this competitive side of her and she is intense for sure. 

“Is there a way I can follow you to see where you are on the course?” 

“Yes, download the app and when I get my bib number, you put that in and it will tell you where I am on the course. The transitions are all in the same place too, so you will see me after the swim, then bike, and then the finish line is down a little bit. You can also take a shuttle to different parts to see me on the course.” 

Niall nods his head understanding, but it’s a lot. They have to be there at seven in the morning, but the place he found to stay is really close to the course. Just then the doorbell rings and Cait looks at Niall because she is not expecting anyone. He is surprised to find Louis, Harry, Dani and Bella at the door. 

Opening the door, he is not hiding his surprise. “Hi, what are you doing here?” 

“Has she started answering you like a robot and shows no fear?” Bella asks. 

“Ya’ she has,” Niall answers, now that he thinks about. 

“Is she packing and repacking?” Dani asks. 

“I think, I don’t really understand all the gear,” he responds. 

“That means she is ready to shit herself and is super nervous, we thought you might need backup since this is your first time seeing ‘Ironwoman Cait’ and knowing what’s on the line, we may reach a new level,” Bella explains. 

Niall nods his head again opening the door to let the girls in. 

He looks to the guys, his face questioning. 

“We’re with them. They called and we said we would come over too and to bring food, even got fish and chicken for her.” Louis says holding up the bag. 

“Dani said you may need male support because apparently Cait can be a hellion and it’s scary the first time. Don’t know if I believe that because she seems so calm and in control, but who am I to argue,” Harry says. 

The guys walk in and already Dani and Bella are on the ground helping Cait and speaking quietly. They walk by and Cait doesn’t even look up when they head to the kitchen and start setting up dinner. Niall comes back over to look at Cait and realizes that her face has a bit of a far off look in it and her lips are in a tight line. He missed it before because he was watching the telly, but maybe she did that to distract him. Dani looks up and Niall asks if she is okay.

“Yeah, it’s part of the process. She did it with swimming and her other triathlons. Cait gets in her head, we just support her and make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“Okay, do I need to do anything?” 

“Just understand and don’t hold anything against her, she probably doesn’t realize she is doing it. She will be good once she is packed and ready.” 

Niall nods and walks away to the guys. “I guess I needed you, not realizing it, thanks for coming over and being the Support Group of Niall while his fiancé tries to qualify for the Olympics.”

“Anytime mate, now let’s eat,” Louis says clapping his hands. “Okay girls, let’s take a break and eat. Cait do you have a moment?” 

Cait looks up in confusion, not realizing that Louis or Harry were there. “Sure. When did you get here?” 

“Same time as the girls, luv. Now, why are you so freaked out that the girls called us and asked us to come over?” 

Cait looks around and realizes she is feeling a little shaky and off. “I didn’t realize I was, but I think I’m getting into my own head a bit. Remember when we spoke at the club, I think some of the fears may be coming back.” 

Louis nods, “that’s fair, I reckon, but want to know what’s different this time than the last?” 

Cait nods. 

“You have experience on your side and no one is going to get a piece of you unless you give them permission. You told me that you compete for the love of the sport, go out and do just that. If it happens, it happens, and we will not love you any less if it doesn’t. Look at it like a bonus and take control back. You are doing it on your own terms remember?” Louis finishes pulling her into a hug. 

“Besides, that guy over there doesn’t care, he loves you no matter what you do,” Louis whispers in her ear. 

Cait takes a deep breath, looking at Louis, “Thank you, really. I’m lucky to have met you.” 

“Ditto, luv, now let’s go eat.”

They walk back with Louis’s arm around Cait and everyone at the table is eyeing them trying to read the situation. Cait doesn’t like it and turns to Harry, “Hiya Harry, sorry I missed you coming in.” 

“No problem, I brought you race food, I hope you like it. Dig in,” he replies. 

Dani and Bella exchange glances not used to Cait coming out of her race trance so quickly, and look at Louis. “What did you say to her, we need to learn that trick?” Dani asks. 

“Just reasoned with her, I hope it works,” Louis answers. 

The rest of dinner and the evening was spent in laughter and stories about one another. Niall kept sneaking glances at Cait and saw that she was back to herself. Because they had to leave early in the morning, they made it an early night. Niall walked everyone to the door thanking them for coming and telling the guys, he would see them Friday. He asked Bella and Dani to hang back for a minute, motioning for them to step out into the hall while he shut the door. 

“I appreciate you all coming, I didn’t know I needed help until you brought it to my attention. Anything else I need to know?”

“She should be good now, Louis snapped her out of it pretty quickly,” Bella says. 

“There is something else I need to ask you two. Several people have referenced Cait’s ex-boyfriend. We don’t talk about it, but from peoples’ comments I’m gathering he was not a nice guy. Is this something I need to be worried about? I’m not looking for dirt or anything, I just want to know because when it is brought up she tenses up.”

Dani and Bella exchange glances not sure what to say. Bella finally breaks the silence, “Let’s say he was not a nice guy and he hurt her. He wanted her for her status and fame because he is an athlete too; when she didn’t care about pursuing that, it bothered him.” 

“Stop beating around the bush B, he was an absolute asshole who emotionally tore her down and although I can’t prove it, I think he may have hit her once or twice. I saw the bruises and she told me they were because she was clumsy, but there was an imprint of a hand on her arm one time. She had changed too, stopped doing things with us. We couldn’t stand the guy, but kept our mouths shut. Then one day she texted and said she broke up with him and asked if we could do a pity party. She never gave us details, but she started being our Cait again and we put it in the past,” Dani says. 

Niall is incredulous, shocked, and angry. The idea of someone hurting his sweet, loving Cait enrages him. “What was his name?” 

“Dickhead,” Dani says. “Jeff,” Bella replies. 

“Thank you for telling me. It’s good to know. Where is he now?” 

“We don’t really know, never cared to ask what he did, but we do know he competes on the circuit, but is not as successful as Cait,” Bella answers. 

“Okay, I won’t tell her you told me, but really, I appreciate it and thank you again for tonight, she is lucky to have you both.” The three say goodbye, and they will see each other Friday. 

Niall takes a moment to compose himself before he enters the flat. He needs to put Cait first right now and then he can deal with his emotions and getting her to bed is the first item on the list. 

He finds her in the bedroom, packing her bag and looks up. “Sorry about today, should have warned you.” 

Niall walks over and pulls her into his arms. “No worries, reason for the long engagement, eh? We can learn each other’s quirks? You have great friends though; glad they were here and Louis too. What’d he say to you?”

“He just reminded me of something I said to him one time and changed how I looked at things. Lou’s a fixer, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, always has been. Liam might have had the moniker of ‘Daddy Direction,’ but Louis really was the one who held us all together.”

“I’m so glad you brought him into my life, he has become a really close friend.”

“Stop that talk right now or I might get jealous,” Niall says with a smile. “Now let’s get you to bed and I will clean up. 

He tucks Cait into bed shortly and stays until she falls asleep and then carefully gets off the bed so he won’t wake her, closing the door behind him. Feeling the nervous energy and anger from before, he starts cleaning up and then heads to the other room to call Harry. 

“’ello.” “Harry, put the phone on speaker, I need to talk to you and Louis.” 

Harry calls Louis over, the creased between his eyes evident because he can hear the anger in Niall’s voice. 

“Ni, are you okay, what’s going on?” Harry asks. 

Niall proceeds to tell them about Jeff and Cait’s niece comment, Zach’s comments and what Dani and Bella told him. Also, about him being an athlete. 

“Did you get a last name?” Louis asks. “No, I didn’t think it was relevant.”

Harry and Louis express their displeasure as well. “Did she press charges or anything?” Harry asks. 

“No, Dani and Bella said that she never confessed, but Dani is a nurse, she knew what to look for,” Niall answers. “I don’t doubt her.”

“I just did a search and found a Jeff Rolston and then did an image search and there are some pictures of them together. Nothing important. Hold on a sec,” Louis says. 

Niall thinks Louis could be a detective if he wasn’t in music. 

“Shit, he is competing in the Ironman,” Louis exclaims. 

“Okay, I don’t know if she knows this or maybe she does, but I think she would say something,” Niall says. 

“I think we should call our bodyguards and have some with us for the weekend, just in case. I don’t want him to approach her and throw her off,” Harry says. 

“Ya’ we can share his picture with them too,” Louis adds. 

“That’s a good idea, but I’m not going to tell her anything, she will just think it’s normal since we are all there. I should probably tell the girls too,” Niall says. 

“We can tell Li and Zayn, so they know what’s going on. I wish I could get my hands on this guy,” Louis says. “Me too,” Niall adds. 

“Calm down both of you. Give Cait some credit, she left him, got away from him and look where she is now. He may not even know she is competing,” Harry, the voice of reason says. 

“Well, he might because she has been giving lots of interviews and been in all the big magazines about this. Calling her the comeback kid and all that. There are hundreds of people competing so hopefully she won’t run into him.”

“We will watch out for her, that’s seven of us and more with our guards,” Harry says. 

That made Niall feel better and he rang off from the guys and texted the girls letting them know what he found out. They are with him and will be on the lookout. He then called Clint and asked if he would be available for the next week. After explaining the situation, Clint said he would pick them up tomorrow and to get him a pic of this dickhead. 

Niall has done everything he can think of to take care of his Cait, but the pit in his stomach hasn’t gone away. He is exhausted as well, and it is not too long before he is in dreamland with Cait in his arms.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cait explains what is really on the line for her race.

Cait was up before the sun the next day, full of nervous energy, flitting around the flat like a fly. Niall knew her well enough to go ahead and get up so he could try to help, not wanting to upset her in anyway. He didn’t think he would, but didn’t want to take any chances. When he asked what he could do to help, she said she was good, but wanted to leave by 11 a.m. 

He hadn’t told her about the car he ordered, but he confirmed with Clint that he would be there at 10:30. He did whip up a breakfast of her approved foods and went and gently grabbed her and put her in a seat and watched her eat. 

“I’m a little a mess right now, huh?” 

“Only a little, but it’s okay. I thought nothing ruffled your feathers, it’s interesting to see another side of you.” 

“Mmph. It’s just my nerves, I’ll get better.” 

“So, I called a car for us and Clint is going to drive us to Dorset. Don’t want you to be alarmed or anything though,” Niall could tell she was going to cut him off, he quickly adds, “Plus, I will be able to be with you and not have to worry about driving and what not.” 

She was quiet for a moment and then says, “I didn’t think of any of that. This won’t be a problem will it?” 

Of course, she would be worried about him, “Not at all luv. I want to make sure you are taken care of it. I can’t wait to see you race.”

With that, they finish quickly and Niall went upstairs to shower and grab his stuff. Clint came up to Cait’s flat and helped them carry everything down, including her bike and gear box. Cait ran upstairs for one more look around to make sure she had everything. While she was gone, Niall texted Clint a picture of Jeff and told him that Cait is his fiancé. 

Clint picked him up in a bear hug congratulating him. “I’ve liked her since I first met her. She is good for you. I promise to keep her safe.” 

Niall knew he would and Cait came downstairs with waters for all of them and Clint congratulated her on the engagement. “I want you to know lassie, that I might be assigned to Niall, but you’re family now and I’ll watch out for ya’ too.” 

“Thanks Clint. I appreciate it. I hope this weekend won’t be too boring for you, but I appreciate you coming along.” 

After that, they settled in for the two-and half-hour drive. Cait actually fell asleep which surprised Niall, she was cuddled up under his arm, drooling a bit on his shirt, but he didn’t mind. When he looked up, Clint caught his eye and smiled. 

Once they arrived at the house, Cait is in awe at how large it is. There are 14 bedrooms alone, each with its own bathroom. Niall figures that everyone can choose a room, choosing the master for themselves. The chef is already there setting up and Cait loves Niall’s thoughtfulness when he introduces him. 

“You think of everything don’t you?” 

“I only wanted this weekend to focus on you. No worries about anything.”

Cait kisses him and thinks how lucky she is. 

“I have to go register and drop off my gear for inspection, do you want to come or have Clint take me?” 

“Oh, I’m coming, I want to see everything.” 

Cait isn’t surprised as they head back again. Once they arrive, it is chaos, reminds him of meets and greets. It seems disorganized, but Cait heads into the crowd knowing where she is going, Niall and Clint following behind. 

Cait is recognized by several people and some ask for autographs and pictures. She is gracious and obliges everyone, many are other athletes. Niall is a bit taken aback, but remembers the same thing happened when she was with Harry. Clint even whispers in his ear, “Seems the shoe is on the other foot now, how famous is she?” 

Niall glances back, “She is seeded first. Had lots of articles and hype around her competing again. She is trying to qualify for the Trials.” Clint whistles at that. 

He loses Cait when he turns back around, but notices she is at a fenced off section talking with some kids. He pushes down the fear that popped up when he couldn’t spot her, worried. He is feeling the same way when she was in the hit and run, but Cait is smiling brightly talking with all of them, posing for more pictures and signing autographs. The fear is tamped down by pride at seeing her in her element. 

Cait comes back smiling and tells them to stay there while she goes to register. Niall nods to Clint who discreetly follows her. Later, they unload her gear and bring it in for inspection and Cait meets her assistant, someone she has had before. Then she is done and tells them she needs to go for a run and asks if they want to join her. 

“How far this time?” 

“Just a light five or six, jogging pace, not the usual.” 

Not wanting her out of his sight, he agrees and looks at Clint. “I’m down, but can we change?” 

After their “light jog” which was anything but, the men wearily walk into the house and Cait is practically humming. Over dinner, Cait doesn’t say much, more just expressing what she needs, but Niall can recognize game mode when he sees it. When she says she is going to turn in early, Niall kisses her goodnight. 

Friday morning dawns bright and sunny and Cait asks if they can drive the bike and running course after breakfast. She sits in the front as she directs Clint and makes notes on her phone, sometimes asking Clint to back up and drive a stretch again for her to study, it is mostly on curves where she does this. It takes a long time and Niall just watches, trying to see what Cait sees. 

“Okay, I’m done. Thank you for your patience. I need to go back and get changed because I have a meeting with the Team GB coach after lunch,” she says. 

“Not a problem lassie, mind if I ask what you were doing?”

Niall wanted to ask that to and he leans forward to listen. 

“I was studying the turns and hills; the turns are where you can make up time and get ahead. I wanted to see the slope and of the road for the cycling portion. Sometimes taking the inside track isn’t the fastest, plus you can get pushed off the road. My strength is in my legs, so I can go wide and open up my speed on turns instead of staying clumped in a group, I also count the turns and then memorize them in case I need to plan a move.”

The impressed looks crossing Niall’s and Clint’s faces must show because she looks at them. “What?” 

“I never knew there was a science to it, I mean I knew your training and eating plan, but not about this,” Niall says. 

“Yeah, there is. Not many do this, but I feel like it gives me an edge and it keeps my mind busy when I race.” 

Niall shakes his head thinking he needs to put another mark in his mental “proof that Cait is amazing” column. 

After lunch, Niall can’t accompany Cait to her meeting, but Clint can drive her and wait for her without too much suspicion. For that Niall is grateful. Everyone is coming in this afternoon as well, so he can be there to greet them, it works out as well. 

When she is gone, he calls his mum because this feeling he has in the pit of stomach won’t go away and the last time it happened, she helped him out. He fills her in on everything with Jeff and his feelings, concerns, but his excitement too. Maura doesn’t think he has anything to worry about, offering that maybe it is just nerves with everything on the line, but tells him to listen to his gut because it hasn’t been wrong. When they hang up, Niall doesn’t know if he feels better, but then he hears the doorbell ring and over the next hour, the guys, along with Cait’s parents show up. An hour later, Bella and Dani arrive along with Cait’s brothers and family. 

There are introductions all around, Dani and Kim, Cait’s niece are a bit starstruck to see all of One Direction in one room, but they quickly get over it when everyone goes to find their bedrooms. The guys hang back for a moment and Niall knows what they are going to ask. 

“Any problems?” Liam asks. 

“No, nothing. Haven’t even seen him, but Cait hasn’t been in there a lot. It’s now that I’m worried about because I can’t be there,” Niall says. 

“Where is she?” Zayn asks. 

“She is meeting with the Team GB coach, Clint’s with her now. I don’t know when she will be back.” 

The door opens and the guys’ bodyguards come in, they are staying at the house as well. “Stan, Paddy, Alberto, Jason, good to see you all. Thanks for being here,” Niall says shaking their hands. 

“No problem, Louis filled us in and sent us a picture of this guy. We will be on the lookout and I hear we might see some exciting racing tomorrow,” Paddy says. 

“Let’s hope so, from what I’ve seen so far, my Cait is a star; already posing for pictures and signing autographs,” Niall says. Harry chuckles at that remembering his experience. 

“We look forward to officially meeting her and congrats on the engagement,” Alberto says. 

After that, everyone disperses to settle down, Niall texts Clint, looking at his watch, seeing that they have already been gone for two hours. Clint texts back that she is coming out now. Niall sighs in relief and then calls out and says that Cait is on her way back. 

Cait is trying not to freak out in the car. Thankful that Clint is driving because she doesn’t think she can. She had a great meeting with the coach and he laid out what she would expect if she makes the cut. Her biggest concern was her training would interfere with her teaching, but it will not, with most meetings happening in London on the weekend. She looks over all the paperwork and then realizes she needs to compartmentalize and focus at the task at hand. Cait can’t allow herself to dream of what could happen. She takes a deep cleansing breath and clears her mind, pushing everything to the side. 

Clint must have been watching, “You good lassie?” 

“Yes, I’m just trying to focus on what’s important and not let outside craziness take over.”

“My mum always said don’t borrow worries when the worries didn’t need to be there in the first place.” 

“Your mum is one smart woman,” Cait says with a smile. 

“I don’t know much about this race, but it seems to me that you have done everything you can to prepare and then some. Trust your training.” 

“Thanks Clint, I appreciate it.” 

When they arrive at the house, Cait sees more cars and looks forward to seeing her friends and family. What she is not prepared for is the “Surprise!” she hears when she walks into the great room seeing everyone there. She scans the room and starts to tear up, not realizing that her girls, brothers and her new found family would be there. 

“Oh, luv, no tears,” Niall says embracing her in a hug. 

“What are you all doing here?” she asks. At her last race, it was her ex and mum because Jeff didn’t want a lot of people there, she is not used to having so much support. 

“Silly, we are your cheering section. It’s not every day we get to see someone qualify for the Trials,” Louis says coming to hug her. 

Pretty soon she is hugging everyone thanking them. The love in the room is hard to explain, but with all of their support, it will make this race so much easier. Dinner is a jovial and loud affair and Cait loves it. So many stories are being told and the food is amazing. The chef outdid himself. Even their guards pulled up chairs and joined in the conversations. 

When there was a lull, Zayn speak up. “Cait can you explain more about tomorrow, what are we looking at?” 

“Well, this is a 113 km (70.3m) Ironman, not the typical 140 mile one. I will start with swimming 1.9 km (1.2m), then will switch to bike for 90 km (56m) and then finish with a 21.1km run (13.1m). Both men and women will be competing together and we are divided by age groups. You can win the whole thing and if you don’t, you could win your age group. You all will be able to track me tomorrow when I get my bib number through an app and there are shuttles that will take you to different places so you can see me. Mum will show you. The start and finish are at the same place though, so you can see me,” she finishes. 

Those who have seen her race before, weren’t surprised by her statement, those that were new, looked at her with shocked expressions on their faces. Cait looks around and smiles, not sure what to say.

“Why would you volunteer to do that?” Zayn asks, the shock clear on his face. 

“Why not? It doesn’t get much bigger than this, and I like challenging myself.” 

“I can think of less tortuous ways to challenge myself, you’re my spirit animal,” Gigi says. 

“Thanks, I kind of fell into it after swimming and it’s fun.” 

“I’ll take your word for it,” Paddy says. 

“Have you ever done an Ironman?” Liam asks. 

“Yes, but I don’t like how long it takes to finish.”

“How long is that?” another asks. 

“Fourteen hours.” 

Zayn spits out his drink then and Louis starts pounding on his back causing everyone to laugh. 

“Jesus, Cait, what are we looking at for you with this race?” Harry questions. 

“I know that one. Anything under four hours qualifies her,” Niall says proudly. 

“And what’s your current time?” Liam asks. 

Cait looks at her mum who smiles back. “Are you going to tell them?” Trish asks. 

“Tell us what?” Niall asks looking at her. 

With a glare to her mum, “My seed time is 3:54.” 

“Cait, you have nothing to worry about, you’ve got this!” Dani says. Others chime in as well. 

“And?” Trish says. 

“So, I wasn’t going to say anything,” Cait glares at her mum. “I don’t want to jinx it, but the record is 3:52, my training times have been below that, so I’m wanting to see if I can break the record.”

“As in the National record?” Harry says. 

“Um,” Cait doesn’t want to quite meet their faces and looks down. “No, the world record,” she says softly. 

Niall leans down because surely, he can’t have heard what he thought he did. 

“Say that again, what record?” someone asks. 

“Did you say the world record, luv?” Niall asks. 

Cait nods and her mum says, “yes, she didn’t want to tell you, but I’m so proud I could spit.” 

From there, the cacophony of yells came from all over the table and she was pulled into hugs. She looked up feeling so much warmth and support from her family and found family. No matter what happens tomorrow, they will still love her. So different from last time when Jeff didn’t want her to tell anyone. She shakes her head to change her thoughts. Niall observes her and squeezes her to his side, kissing her head. 

After dinner, the group plans for the next day with help from Trish who has done this before. Cait thanked all of them for their support, said she would see them tomorrow and bid everyone good night. When she hugged her mum, no longer mad at her, Trish says, “I only told them because I want them to know what you’re working towards. You’ve never had this much support and it will mean more to them when they know what to look for.” 

“I know mum, you know I don’t want to toot my own horn.” 

“Then let me do it for you. Good night honey.” 

Niall follows her to their room because he plans to be where she is tomorrow. He watches as Cait lays out everything on the floor. “We call this flat me. It’s how racers prepare since we have to be up so early tomorrow.” Niall nods. 

“So, you let out some smart bits of the conversation there tonight.” Niall leaves that comment hanging in the air. 

Cait looks at him, really thinking before she speaks. “It wasn’t to hurt you, but if I say it out loud, I feel like I could jinx this. When I began this journey, I had no idea I would be here again and with each day something else is revealed that I could do and I’m not ready to make it real, ya’ know. I want to see what happens and now that everyone knows, I don’t want to let anyone down.” 

“Oh, luv, how could you think that. You don’t see our asses out there? We are in awe of what you do. If you told me seven months ago that I wouldn’t be touring, but would be watching my fiancé compete for the Trials, I would have thought you lost your mind. Now, after everything that has happened, there is no other place I would want to be.” He gets up and pulls her into his arms, kissing her head. 

“Thank you and thank you for understanding me in my weirdness.” 

“Anytime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are getting towards the end of the series. Only five chapters left. Drop me a line to let me know how you think it will end, besides a wedding of course ;).


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Cait's race.

Niall is cold and if he is cold, Cait must be freezing in her wetsuit. They were up before the sun and the chef, had food for them already. When they arrived, Cait gave her bib number to Niall who texted it to everybody along with a pic of her smiling giving a thumbs up. She gave him a quick kiss and he wished her luck before she disappeared into a mass of athletes. He couldn’t protect anymore and prayed that no harm would come to her. He turns to Clint and they walk to the spectator area waiting for the starting gun. 

Cait went through all the motions this morning and now that she is stretching and trying to stay warm, she gives herself a pep talk and centers herself. She closes her eyes and runs through her own advice she gives her swimmers; she feels different about this race though, almost like she is wrapped in a cocoon of love and support, something that she hasn’t felt in a long time. Cait focuses on that and doesn’t look around at the other swimmers. Then she hears the starter and she is off. 

Everyone has joined Niall in the stands, dressed warmly and sipping warm drinks. He hears Zayn say, “I’m freezing my nads off, how are they doing that?” No one answers, but he hears Jessie ask Daniel what a nad is and laughs when Daniel says, “ask your mother later.” 

“Zayn, you can’t say stuff like that around children,” Harry admonishes. 

When the race starts, there is no way to tell where Cait is. He remembers her telling him that it is by her chip time so it is not like everyone has to reach the water at the same time. Trish tells them to open the app and you can see a different colored dot among the swarm of swimmers., that’s Cait. They all look at their phones seeing her make her way towards the front of the pack with each stroke. All of them cheering the dot like a bunch of crazies. 

The announcer starts reading names off too now that there is becoming a distinct separation. They all cheer when they hear Guion. Not knowing who is male or female, it’s hard to know her placement, but she is in the top ten. 

Soon, swimmers start leaving the water, Niall swears that was faster than he thought. Cait is the first woman they see exiting the water and they all cheer the whole time she makes the transition to the bike and Cait smiles and waves when she rides by. 

Niall turns to Trish, “was her time good, how did that compare?” They all turn around then, as Trish pulls out her clipboard with all of Cait’s splits on it. “It was perfect, down four minutes from last time, so she is in good shape, but bike is her hardest event.”

More women are exiting the water now, a testament to how fast she went. They cheer again when the announcer announces the top three in the bike leg and Cait is still in first. All of them clear out and head to the next viewing point. Niall and her parents load up first and Niall finds himself shaking with excitement, he didn’t think this would affect him this way. Trish must read his mind, “It gets better dear, you learn to calm the nerves,” she says patting his knee. 

Niall keeps refreshing the app and watching his love kicking major ass until he hears Trish say, “she’s going too fast, she needs to slow down or she will bottom out in the run.” 

“Will she be okay, she’s only ten miles in?” 

“I need to see her face, that will tell me everything.” 

In no time they are dropped off at the next spectator spot and they fill in, all looking down at their phones watching Cait’s dot get closer. They are at the 25-mile mark so almost half way for her. The announcer starts listing names and Cait is still in the top ten, but again they don’t know male or female. Then the announcer starts listing more names and Niall hears Rolston. He turns to the other guys and they heard it too along with their guards. At least he is far enough away from Cait that she won’t see him. 

They all look up when Jesse screams and points down the road, “here they come.” 

Cait comes around shortly and she is still in the lead for the women, only men in front of her. The look of determination on her face is unlike anything Niall has ever seen, it is almost frightening, but when she hears her name and the cheers she gives them her million watt smile and waves. 

“Damn, she is one tough cookie. She asked if I ever wanted to work out with her, but I think I’ll pass,” Liam says. 

“Probably a good idea, she put Dani and I on the floor when we worked out with her in high school, never again,” Bella said. 

Niall hears their conversation, but he is looking at Trish. “What did you see?” he asks. 

“I am actually a little surprised, she is under pace, but she looked strong and confident. When she is hurting, her eyes squint and her forehead wrinkles. That was what I was looking for, but I didn’t see any of that,” Trish answers. 

“I’ve seen that look before when she was hurt by that car, thanks for the tell.” 

Again, they all stand up to let more families in and they head to the shuttle back to the start for the transition. Niall happens to look up and everyone is looking intently at their phone watching her dot. All he can do is smile. 

“She’s moved up to sixth overall!” Louis shouts. 

Not a man of a lot of words, Patrick claps his hands, “that’s my girl.” 

When they arrive back at the start, they file back in and Niall sees Jenna and Zach and calls them over. 

“Hi Mr. Horan, it’s good to see you again,” Zach says. 

Jenna nods as well, but she is more starstruck by the other four guys sitting behind Niall. Dani recognizes Jenna, “oh honey, don’t look so shook, they’re just your coach’s cheering section.” 

Niall, Harry and Lou laugh at that remembering Dani’s first time. “Mr. Horan, can you introduce me?” 

“Sure, this is Mr. Styles, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Malik, and Mr. Payne.” Jenna shakes each of their hands as does Zach who is not as interested. “You can call us by our first names, luv,” Harry says. Niall makes a slashing motion across his neck when Harry looks up. 

“No, Coach wouldn’t approve. It is a sign of respect to refer to you by your last names, but could I have a picture with all of you?” She turns to Niall, “you promised.” 

“Sure Jenna, Zach help us out.” After the picture, they settled down again watching their phones, cheering when they heard Cait’s name mentioned and no new names had moved in front of her. 

They had a bit of time to kill so Niall took the opportunity to speak to Zach about Jeff.

“Zach, you mentioned Miss Guion’s last boyfriend and that you didn’t like him, do you mind if I ask why?” 

“No, he was a creepy guy. He would come to practice and meets, wanting her to pay attention to him, but she couldn’t. Never once did he try to get to know us or talk to us, just sneered. We all hated him and wanted her to break up with him. One night, I forgot something and I went back in and I heard them arguing and then he was yelling at her. I snuck around the corner to see what was going on and he was squeezing her arm and then had his other hand up like he was going to hit her. She was trying to protect herself. I backed away and then yelled out for coach asking if she had seen my bag, trying not to act like I saw anything. When I came around the corner again, he had backed up, but she was crying and trying to hide it. She said she would help me look for it and the guy left. We never saw him after that and Coach seemed better.” 

Niall sat there speechless at Zach’s story, he looked up and could tell some of the other guys had heard it too, their faces echoing his. 

“Thanks for telling me, that was brave what you did. I’m proud of you,” Niall says. 

“Don’t tell her I told ya’. I don’t want her to be embarrassed, she was already, but she is better with you, plus you talk to us, so there’s that.”

Niall chuckled and slung his arm around Zach, “she’s lucky to have you.”

Another announcement was made and Cait was staying strong in fifth position. Clint said, “I guess her studying those curves is paying off.” 

Niall looked up, “looks like it.” 

They were all chatting among themselves when the first rider came around the curve to the transition point. None of them knew who he was, but they all cheered. About 15 minutes later, Cait rounds the corner and the noise was deafening as they cheered her through the transition and she started on the run. She was all smiles when she looked up at them and blew a kiss at Niall. 

Once she had passed, they turned to Trish for an update. “She is good, lost about 30 seconds on the bike, but she is strong in the run, look for an eight to nine-minute mile and she will have it.”

“She looked strong, not tired too, that’s a good sign,” Patrick said. 

Again, they all move back to the shuttle to see her at the half way point of the run, watching her dot. Cait went out a little too fast on the first mile, going seven minutes. They all see it, but don’t want to say anything. Except Jenna offering, “she’s doing what she tells us, go out fast to psych out the opponents and then try to maintain so you’ve bought yourself some time.” 

Twenty minutes later, they are back in the other spectator area and see her splits of eight, nine and then ten minutes. 

“Damnit Cait, push through, dig deep,” Daniel mutters. 

“I hope she is not self-sabotaging; she needs to keep her mind clear,” Dani says.” 

Niall and the guys are taking it all in, having not prior experience and when Niall looks up, they all have smiles on their faces and are taking it all in. 

The announcer gives an update and they hear that Guion is in fourth place, still way behind the top male leader, but it doesn’t matter. When her next mile comes up at nine, they all breathe a sigh of relief.

“I had no idea that this could be this stressful,” Louis says. “Or exciting,” Liam says. 

When they see the first runner, they all cheer and when they see Cait, it gets loud. She is smiling the whole time and waves as she gets closer. Trish moves down to the front, “get those knees up, you got this!” Cait acknowledges and they watch her back until she is out of sight. 

“She is maintaining in the eights, six miles to go and she has it,” Trish says writing down her times. 

There is nervous excitement in the air when they climb back on to the shuttle to take them to the finish line. Everyone is smiling and refreshing the app. “She has a ten again, what happened?” 

Clint pulls up the terrain map, “that’s the hill she was worried about because it is late in the course. She said she wanted to pad her time a little bit before she hit that because she would be tired.” 

Niall nods remembering that. His heart is pumping so hard that he feels like he is racing. They are about 45 minutes away from a dream come true. 

“Back to a seven, must be the downhill,” Daniel says. 

For the final time, they file into the stands to watch the finish. The announcer names the order, they cheer when they hear Guion is now in fourth place. Niall can hardly sit still and he starts pacing. The guys watch with amusement, but they are just as nervous. Louis’s leg has not stopped fidgeting. They watch the first male to finish with a time of 3:40. Twelve minutes left for Cait.

Niall notices people lining the road past the finish. He tells the group he is going down there and the others join him, except her immediate family. Zayn announces that Cait is maintaining in the eights. Then he sees her down the road, she is squinting and must be hurting, he looks at the clock, 3:49. He starts screaming his head off and waving his hands. She must notice because she locks eyes with him and starts sprinting. The noise is off the charts, almost as if they were at a concert. The men in front of her finish and the officials quickly run a finish tape across the line for Cait who crosses with her arms raised and huge smile on her face, her time is 3:51.48. She did it! 

He throws his arms up in the air as Cait walks towards him, tears are running down both their faces and Cait collapsing into a hug. They hear the announcer say that she just set a new world record breaking that of another fellow Brit, as her legs give out. Niall ducks under the tape to help her down and someone drapes a foil around her shoulders and gives her a water. He can’t imagine a time where he has been prouder of someone, especially someone he loves with all of his heart. He keeps kissing her head and murmuring to her and she lets it all out. Good tears, he hopes. 

A medic comes and asks for Niall to help her stand so they can make sure she is okay. Niall is worried, but Cait whispers it is normal. The other guys watch concerned, but Niall passes the message along and goes to the med tent. 

They take her blood pressure and give her some oxygen and Cait lays with her eyes closed, completely spent. She can’t believe she did it. A record and qualifier, she wants to hug everyone, but she is too exhausted at the moment. The medic tells her that they are going to give her fluids and she nods. Niall is holding her hand and she squeezes it to reassure him because she doesn’t want to open her eyes just yet. He keeps brushing her hair off her face and kissing her forehead. 

In reality, Niall is alarmed at what he is seeing, but he looks around and sees other athletes getting the same and he calms down some. Cait never told him about this part. About ten minutes later, Cait opens her eyes and looks at him. She takes down the oxygen and gives him a smile “I did it!” “Yes, you did luv, I’m so proud of you right now. That was an amazing race.” 

The medic comes back and sees Cait’s color is back. After a quick check of her blood pressure, he unhooks her IV and declares her good to go. Niall watches carefully as she sits up and climbs down, but she shows no sign of falling much to his relief. 

They walk out the back of the tent and off to the side is her fan club. Her parents come up to her and she starts crying all over again as they hug her and congratulate her. “We did it, mum, you kept me on track. Just like you always do,” Cait says.  
“Yes, but you did what you always do too, honey.” 

When she stepped away from her parents, she was moved from one set of arms to another, all congratulating her and saying how proud they were of her. Louis looked at her closely when it was his turn, “you okay, luv? We had to wait a bit to see you.” Cait smiled at his concern, “yeah, it’s normal, I’m good.” Then she was crushed by a Louis hug. 

Cait felt so loved at that moment and touched that the guys came and so did Zach and Jenna. Even the bodyguards gave her a quick hug. Too soon, one of the officials came and took her to award the medals. 

It was crazy to Niall because people were still finishing. Cait was brought her bag by her helper and she quickly put on some warm clothes and they all gathered around the podium. The males went first and then they announced the females. 

“And first place for the women, with a new world record of 3:51.48, a British Olympic Trial qualifying time, a new meet record, and the highest overall finish by a female ever AND an age group title, Caitlin Guion!” 

Cait stepped up to the podium, waving to everyone and bowed for her medals. When she looked out over the crowd, the noise was deafening. Her mum, Dani and Bella were crying, as was Harry, and when she made eye contact with Niall, she mouthed “I love you” and maybe he shed a tear as well. She congratulated the other top finishers and posed for pictures, but it was all a blur for Cait. She was interviewed, more pictures and signed more autographs, then more pictures with the top male finishers and then she was ready to head back to take a long nap, but not before she asked for a group photo with all her friends and family, not noticing that newspaper photographers were taking pictures as well. 

Cait had to stay a little longer so the rest of the group left for the house and Clint, Niall and her packed up her gear and she signed the appropriate verification paperwork. She could hardly stay awake in the car, but Niall couldn’t really blame her and once they returned, she acknowledged everyone and then headed straight to the shower and then bed. 

After a quick lunch, others followed suit and everyone kind of dispersed to their own rooms to rest a bit. Niall entered their room and saw a trail of clothes on the floor and her medals were hanging halfway off the dresser. Cait never does that, a true testament to her exhaustion and accomplishments today and Niall picks up her clothes. He looks at the medals and wants to frame them and put them up on the wall, only he doesn’t know if she will let him. Looking over at the bed, she is already buried under a mound of covers snoring and Niall smiles joining her.


	22. Chapter 22

Niall woke up and was confused for a moment, he looks over and sees Cait sound asleep. It is still light outside and then it all comes rushing back to him. He sits up and thinks through the morning and the physical feat he witnessed. He will carry the memory of Cait crossing the finish line with him until he dies. Rolling over, he brushes the hair off her face and gives her a kiss, whispering how proud he is of her and silently gets up and heads downstairs. 

Entering the main room, he sees Zayn, Harry and Dani, as well as Patrick and Peter. 

“Zayn, I thought you may be asleep still,” Niall says. 

“I was, but Gigi is a kicker and I think I’m still on a high from everything.”

“Same, mate. We’ve seen so many extraordinary things, but I think this morning is tops it,” Niall says. 

Patrick smiles. “That’s our Cait, I knew she wasn’t done competing, she just had to find her way, not what others pushed her to do.” They smile at that. 

They all talk and more come down and join them, but still no sign of Cait. “So, what’s next now for her?” Liam asks. 

Niall and Trish exchange glances, and at her nod Niall answers, “She met with Team GB yesterday and they outlined everything for her. Postponing the Trials and Olympics worked in her favor because now she will train until June, have to meet with the Olympic Trial committee and do health and training checks, then the Trials. She qualified for the triathlon, not the Ironman, so she will be competing in half of the distance she did today.”

“Where are the Trials?” Harry asks. “Here, same course,” Trish answers. “With her finish today and breaking the record, she will go into the Trials in the top seed because her time will convert. Once she competes, she could hold the triathlon world record as well and that puts her in the top seed for the Olympics.”

Trish turns to Niall, “You are going to need to help her find a publicist or someone to handle the media aspect. She is going to be hit up for interviews because of what just happened and once school starts and she coaches full time, she doesn’t like outside distractions. She would never say that, but she is a private person and that is one of the places where we went wrong last time.”

“I can definitely do that, we all have some experience in that area,” Niall says looking at the other guys. 

They all sit in silence thinking about everything, lost in their own thoughts when they hear Cait come down the stairs and greets everyone. 

“There’s my girl,” Patrick says with a proud smile.

“Hi, Da’,” she says.

Cait looks down and sees all of the people she loves so dearly looking up at her and she smiles, her eyes searching for one in particular. Walking over to him, he stands up and hugs and kisses her forehead. “How are you feeling luv?” 

“Stiff, sore, but more rested now. What are you all doing?” She asks the group. 

“Talking about you, of course,” Dani says. 

Cait blushes a bit. “I can’t thank you enough for being here today. The feeling of hearing your name and looking up and seeing everyone in the stands. You all were my biggest motivators. Thank you.” 

The groups says various things back, but they are all smiling at her. 

“So tonight, is a big party for the athletes and their families. It was highly suggested I attend; would anyone be interested in a night out?” 

Her family bows out, but everyone else is up to party and they go get ready. Cait comes back down in blue dress, receiving some appreciative whistles from the guys, Dani and Bella too. Their guards insist on driving all of them and they pack into the cars. Just for kicks, they do a girl car and boy car with the rest of the guards following in another vehicle. Cait gives Clint the directions as they head out. 

Niall has to laugh that it seemed like old times having all of them crammed in one car again, Louis predictably sitting on Harry’s lap. Zayn asked what everyone was thinking, “Do you think this fellow will be there tonight?” 

“I don’t know, he finished far back and added time. He may not want to show his face,” Louis says.

The guys turn and look at him. “What? I used the app, I was curious.” 

“Or, he comes because he knows she won,” Harry adds. 

“Did you all hear what Zach said?” Niall asks. 

The guys nod. “So that means he got violent and could again. We need to keep an eye on her, let’s not get pissed tonight,” Niall says. 

He still has the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, it went away this morning, but it is there again. 

When they arrive, the party is in full swing and the alcohol is flowing. Open bar, dance floor, band and a few hundred people. 

“I thought music parties were bad, these guys really party,” Liam says. 

“It’s because they have to be so healthy all the time, now they can let their hair down one night, duh,” Louis says. 

The girls are already in the mix and Cait is surrounded by people. She’s smiling and posing for pictures. 

“You know, other than Jenna, we haven’t been asked for pictures or autographs all day, seems weird,” Harry says. 

“Enjoy it while it lasts because that may be over tonight, of course, no one is even looking at us, yet,” Zayn replies. 

They look around and look for a table, Niall goes in and winds his way to stand with Cait. He smiles when he sees that she is wearing her ring. 

“Oh, hi, you found me, I was heading to the bar and was stopped,” Cait says. “The girls are on the dance floor, where are the guys?” 

Niall points and Cait can see the tops of their heads and the guards, she turns around and sees Clint as well, not too far from them, she smiles and waves. He tries to steer her in the direction of their table, telling her he will grab some drinks, but she is stopped by a reporter. 

Cait graciously answers the questions and then the reporter turns to Niall, he sees the moment recognition dawns on her face. The reporter turns back to Cait, “are you here with Niall Horan?” 

Something about that question gets under his skin and he cuts in, “I think it is more that I’m here with Cait Guion,” Niall says putting on his Irish charm. 

“Are you two dating?” Cait looks at Niall, knowing it was going to come out sometime. 

“No, he is actually here to support me and came with a group of my friends, now if you will excuse us,” Cait says and they walk away. 

“That was nice, we aren’t dating?” Niall asks. “It wasn’t a lie, we are way past that,” Cait replies laughing. 

Once they arrive at the table, people put in their drink orders and Niall and Bella go off to get them. Cait is full of nervous energy and wants to do something so she pulls Dani and Gigi on the dance floor with her. The guys watch them walk away, look at each and shrug and join them. 

When Niall returns to the table, he sees Stan and his confusion must show because Stan nods towards the dance floor and there is his Cait surrounded by everyone. For a second, Niall felt that feeling, worried about her, but of course, they would be out there. He looks to Bella and they shrug, set the drinks down to join them, weaving himself up behind Cait, putting his hands on her hips and she turns around, recognizing those hands anywhere. 

“Hello lover!” she says with a smile putting her arms around his neck. Dancing with him. 

“Lover, is that all I am to you?” 

Cait gets cheeky, and leans up to whisper in his ear, “that and so much more and I would be happy to show you.” 

“God, woman, how much have you had to drink?” 

“None actually, now let’s dance.” 

Cait has no idea how long they danced, everyone having so much fun and some of her fellow athletes yelling congrats to her as they all let loose, but she was thirsty. Dani was closest to her, so she mouthed she was getting a drink and headed to the bar for some water. 

“I guess congratulations are in order, you really put yourself back on the map today.” 

Cait noticeably freezes when she hears the voice, a voice she never wanted to hear again. She schools her face, turns around slowly and looks at a face she hoped she would never see again.

“Hello Jeff, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“What, can’t I congratulate a world record holder on her welcome back into racing?” 

“Thank you, now I need to go.” 

“Not so fast, why is it that when we were together, you had no interest in competing and the first race after we break up, you put yourself back on the map? We could have been the sport’s power couple, but you didn’t want to. Afraid I would outshine you?” Jeff says with a sneer.

Cait could not believe his arrogance. “I see you are still a self-centered asshole, but wait, I don’t need you to be a power couple, I think I did fine on my own. You weren’t anywhere near me when I crossed the finish line.”

He raises his hand, but stops, “You bitch, things haven’t changed. You need someone to put you in your place.”

“No, you do, we are done talking, stay out of my life,” Cait says with vehemence, turning around and walking away, but Jeff grabs her arm, spinning her toward him. 

“Let me go you bastard,” Cait struggles, but Jeff tightens his hold and looks at her, but then sees the ring on her finger and looks at her with such contempt. “You’re engaged, we just broke up, are you a slut now too?” 

Cait couldn’t take this anymore, “Let go of me or you will regret it.” She wouldn’t tell him, but she is starting to be scared, he is hurting her and she can’t see any of her friends or the guards. 

“Or what? What are you going to do?” Jeff asks with a sneer. 

Cait stomps on his foot and then goes to knee him, but misses, so she uses her other hand to slap him as hard as she can and yells. He looks at her and then brushes his hand under his nose and sees he is bleeding. “You’ll pay for that!” By now, other partiers have started to take notice. 

Everything happens in slow motion then, she hears her name and tries to run, but Jeff is faster and he pushes her, hard saying, “Why didn’t you stay down when I hit you with the car?” Cait can’t hide the surprise in her face, but she is falling and can’t grab anything, the last thing she sees is him standing over her, someone grabbing him, a sharp pain and then nothing. 

A stabbing pain makes itself known in Niall’s stomach and he knows to pay attention. He was busy dancing with Bella and looks up looking for Cait. He circles the dance floor and doesn’t see her. Practically yelling, he asks, “Where’s Cait?” to everyone he recognizes. Gigi knows what’s going on and said she was Dani last. Niall starts looking for Dani and spots her towards the edge of the dance floor. He doesn’t care who he is shoving and Clint notices him and meets him. “I can’t find Cait!” he says. 

The guys are following after him now and Niall grabs Dani who turns around in shock, “where’s Cait?” 

“Calm down, she went to get a drink at the bar, what’s the problem?” “Jeff’s here!”

“Wait, what, oh my God, where? We have to find her.” All Niall can do is nod as he pushes his way through the crowd. He finally sees her struggling to get out of Jeff’s grasp. He loses sight of her again and hears her scream. Fear jumps through him when he sees her slap him and then Jeff push her down. Niall is enraged, but before he can get there, Clint steps in front of him and punches Jeff. Niall can’t think about it because he is looking down at Cait and she is not moving.


	23. Chapter 23

Niall kneels down next to her, she is laying on her side. Someone joins him on her other side and he goes to move her gently on her back, putting his hand under her head; gasping in alarm when he feels something warm. When he pulls away, he sees her blood. He looks around trying to find what she hit and that’s when he notices the foot rail surrounding the bar, blood and blond hair on the sharp edge. 

“Call 999,” he tries to say, but it is a whisper. He looks up and sees Louis across from him, checking Cait’s pulse. “Call 999” he says with more strength. 

“They already are Ni, her pulse is strong,” Louis says. 

Niall wipes his bloody hand on his pants, grabs Cait’s hand and gently caresses her face, “Cait, I need you to wake up, luv. You’re too still, come on open those lovely eyes.”

Louis picks up Cait’s head and presses a towel to the back, but a puddle is growing on the floor. Niall’s heart is beating in his throat, seeing Cait’s face becoming increasingly paler. Louis must notice too because he presses his fingers to Cait’s neck to check her pulse and looks up at Niall with alarm. 

“Where’s the ambo, we need it now!” Louis shouts. Niall doesn’t take his eyes off of Cait, squeezing her hand, and whispering words that he doesn’t even know he is saying. 

Harry comes running up, “We can hear the sirens, the police and ambo should be here soon.” 

Louis can’t hide the fear in his face, “Haz, her pulse, it is slowing down.” 

That makes Niall look up and in all of his life, he can never remember feeling the rage flowing through his body like it is now. It quickly replaces the fear. He stands up, not too sturdy on his feet and looks for the thing that did this to her. 

“Whoa, Niall, where you going mate?” Liam says trying to intercept him. 

“Where is he? Where’s the bastard?” 

“We’ve got him, Paddy and Alberto are with him and he will be arrested. Come on, see to Cait. We took care of it,” Liam tries to reassure him, holding him in place. 

That breaks through to Niall and he sinks back down next to Cait holding her hand, only this time he notices her skin feels colder so he rubs his hand up and down her arm. “Cait, luv, why are you so cold? Does anyone have a blanket?” He looks up and sees Louis’s face and can’t figure out why he looks sad, then he looks up and sees Harry, Dani, Bella, Gigi and Zayn with tears in their eyes. Why are they crying? 

Louis is holding another towel tight against the back of her head and Niall sees a red one next to it. He doesn’t remember a red towel, but shakes his head and looks at Cait again, rubbing her face noticing her lips look blue. Niall leans down to kiss them, hoping she will open her eyes, but he is met with cold and clammy lips, not the warmth he is typically used too. 

“Cait, honey, you’re safe, open your eyes.” 

“Ni, Niall!” He doesn’t have any idea how much time has passed, but he looks up when he feels hands on his shoulders trying to lift him. “The medics are here, you need to move,” Liam says, pulling him away. 

“Li, she’s not waking up, why isn’t she waking up?” 

“I know, Ni. Let the medics work, they’ll take care of her,” Liam tries to reassure him. 

Niall feels like he is in a fog, he sees his friends, her friends and they have tear stained faces, Dani is crying into Zayn’s shoulder and Bella is wrapped in Harry’s arms. He sees fear on all of their faces. 

“Niall, you with me?” Liam asks, shaking him a bit. Niall looks at him confused. “They are taking her to A and E, you want to ride in the ambo?” 

He must shake his head because Liam leads him to the awaiting transport and he climbs in, looking at him, “we will be right behind you, stay with her,” Liam tells him. 

That shakes him out of his stupor and he turns to Cait who looks deathly pale, he sees the slight fogging of her breath on the inside of the oxygen mask. Her head is wrapped up haphazardly and she looking like a Halloween costume. He tries to grab her hand, but the medic is working over her. They are at the hospital in no time and he quickly climbs out and watches as they wheel her by him. He follows along until someone is putting a hand to his chest telling him he can’t go any further. It doesn’t click and he tries to walk around him. 

“Sir, can you hear me, you can’t go past this point, you must go over there and wait. Someone will come find you.” 

“Come on Ni, let’s go sit down,” and he feels a hand on his shoulder, turning to see Zayn look at him. “Listen to the nurse, we got ya’.” 

Niall doesn’t remember much after that, he only sees Cait’s blood on his hands and clothes.

Time passes, he doesn’t know how long, people come and some put a hand on his shoulder, nothing registers. He only sees Cait’s pale face. 

Bella calls Cait’s parents and they join them quickly, asking what happened. Peter and Daniel are livid. All are in shock, but no one hides the looks they give Niall. 

“We need to contain this and call a solicitor and his manager, the press is going to have a field day,” Liam says. He is always the voice of reason and they watch when he goes and gets Niall’s phone from him to call the necessary people. 

Peter brought a change of clothes for Niall and Harry takes them and kneels in front of him. 

“Ni, let’s go get you washed up and changed. You’ll feel more comfortable,” Harry says helping Niall stand not missing the dazed look in his eyes.

“I think he may be in shock, Zayn, can you help me and Lou, go see if we can have someone see him,” Harry says leading Niall to the nearest bathroom. 

They wash Niall’s hands and Zayn wets a towel and wipes his face. They get him out of his clothes and pull on a jumper and a pair of joggers. Niall doesn’t say anything at all and the two men exchange worried glances. 

Zayn snaps his fingers in front of Niall’s face, “Niall, Ni, we need you to come out of it mate, Cait needs you. We know you are scared, we all are, but snap out of it.” 

Zayn is looking in Niall’s eyes, but nothing is registering. Harry reaches over and pinches Niall and that seems to do the trick because Niall looks up and sees his two best mates looking at him with concern and everything comes rushing back. He loses it then, the tears flow out and he cries, full body shakes as his brothers hold him. There isn’t much more they can do. 

After a bit, he pulls back and Zayn hands him a towel to wipe his face. Niall’s body stops shuddering and he finally looks up. 

“Thank you, I don’t know what I’d do if you all weren’t here. I lost myself, I can’t lose her, I just found her and I couldn’t protect her. I knew something bad would happen and I couldn’t get to her in time,” Niall says, his voice full of anguish. 

“You won’t. Cait is a fighter, she is receiving the best care she can. You did everything right. Are you ready to go out and see everyone? We are all here,” Zayn says leaving a comforting hand on Niall’s neck. 

He nods and the men leave the room. Their friends look up when they come back and Niall goes to Trish and Patrick and hugs them. “Are you better now honey, you had us worried?” Trish asks rubbing Niall’s back. “Yes, sorry, I lost myself there. Any update yet?” 

“Yes, they told us they are taking her to surgery. She is stable and needs some blood. There is some swelling on her brain where she hit it and they are going to relieve the pressure,” Trish says. 

Niall pales visibly and Trish notices, “there now, look at me.” Trish puts her hand on the back of Niall’s head. “She is going to be fine, she’s a fighter. The doctor said it is routine with head injuries and they will update us when they are done and get her settled in a room. Don’t you worry.” 

He hears her, but he is scared. He sees movement off to the side and stands up when he sees Paddy and Alberto walk in, the guys join him. 

“Is he in jail?” Niall asks. 

“Ya’, there were several witnesses and he was scared, kept saying it was an accident. I wanted to bloody punch him, but between Cait and Clint, I think his nose is broken and he has a nice black eye,” Paddy says. 

“Not enough if you ask me,” Louis mumbles. 

“The police took statements and I told them we are pressing charges. There was media, so fair warning, this is going to get out,” Paddy finishes. 

“I called Niall’s manager and told her what is going on. Then I texted his solicitor, letting him know that we need him. Jill said she would an issue a statement and they are going to want to speak to you Niall, so prepare yourself,” Liam says. 

“How, when?” Niall asks running his hands down his pockets and not finding his phone. Liam hands it to him. “You were a bit out of it mate, I also called your parents. They are going to fly in as soon as they can catch a flight,” Liam says. 

“Thank you, do I need to call Jill?” 

“Not yet, let’s wait and see how Cait is and then we can go from there,” Liam answers. 

“The police will be coming over as well to get a statement, they are going to want to talk to Clint, Louis and you,” Alberto says. 

The three men nod when Sean comes back and tells them that there is a more private room that they can wait in and everyone gets up shuffling towards the new room. At this point, it is a waiting game.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens with Cait and another bombshell is dropped on Niall.

Niall sits there in the uncomfortable chair flipping through channels, his hand holding Cait’s. It’s where he has been for the last three days. Cait had to receive a blood transfusion and they drilled a hole in skull to relieve the pressure and swelling. Other than a concussion, the doctors were optimistic that she would make a full recovery once she woke up, only that hasn’t happened yet. 

Everyone else had to return to London, but Niall’s mum flew in and Trish and Patrick stayed. They are staying at the house, Harry arranged for them to have it as long as they needed. He refuses to leave her side, but compromised when his mum started to really worry that he would end up in one of the beds as well. He showers there, has food brought to him and sleeps when one or both of their parents come to sit with her, but he will not leave her room. 

The police came and took his statement and he told them in no uncertain terms that he will be pressing charges. His solicitor had already contacted the staff lawyer and Jeff’s bail was denied. Niall hoped he was scared shitless after Zach, Bella and Dani were able to give a statement to a pattern of abuse. His solicitor thinks Jeff can be charged with assault, but Niall wants to go with attempted murder. He saw Jeff’s eyes, he wanted to harm her, there is no denying that. 

The media storm was fast and furious and Niall has been linked with Cait. She will not be happy, but it couldn’t be helped. Jill is doing her best, but isn’t happy that Niall didn’t give her a heads up about Cait, still no one knows they are engaged, so at least there is that. He didn’t want to read any headlines, but a few came his way. All were complimentary of Cait and her accomplishments and then they talk about the attack, calling it senseless and horrible. Other athletes are speaking out on her behalf and the hospital has had to find more space to put all the flowers and gifts sent to her from well-wishers. Niall knows she would be incredibly embarrassed at the attention, but it shows him that other people know what he knows, that Cait is one of the most generous, kind and dedicated people around. 

He sighs, looking at her. “Well luv, this definitely is not on our own terms. I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect ya’, I tried, I really did and I still couldn’t.” Niall hopes that if he wills hard enough, she will open her eyes, but Cait is fighting her own battle and there is nothing he can do, but be here. 

The guys text twice a day, asking for updates, but he has no news to give them. She’s stable and she will wake up when she is ready. On the fourth day, his mum has to return and he cries a bit at that. She has kept him grounded. Before she leaves, “remember ya two are soulmates, that’s fate, chance, whatever you want to call it. God is not going to take her away right when you find her. She’ll wake up, she’s a strong one, she’s healing her insides so you can help her heal on the outside,” Maura says. 

“Thanks mum, for coming, for everything,” Niall says giving her a big hug. 

“Keep me posted my boy, it will be fine.”

Niall hopes she is right. 

On the fifth day, the doctor orders therapy so her limbs don’t atrophy and Niall watches closely at what the PT is doing because this is something he can do as well. When he leaves, Niall is playing with her hand and resting his head on the bed lost in his own thoughts. He must have fallen asleep because he wakes up to Louis looking at him. 

“What are ya’ doing here Lou?” 

“I came to check on the two of you. Plus, I miss her, mate. We got to where we texted or talked every day. She has squeezed her way into my life and now that she isn’t there, there’s a big hole.”

“Yeah, I know. I need her to wake up, I want to see her eyes, want to kiss those lips, want to hear her voice and see that smile. I’m wrecked.”

“I know ya’ are. Why don’t you take a break and let me talk to her a bit, she may be getting sick of ya’, needs another mate to keep her company.” 

Niall had to laugh, but he knew he needed to leave the room for a bit, maybe get some fresh air. He didn’t want to, but he knows Cait and Lou are close and he respects that. He hadn’t been outside in five days after all. He tells Louis he will take a walk only to be surprised to find Clint and Alberto outside the room. 

“Clint, Christ, I forgot, please tell me you haven’t been here the whole time?” 

“No, someone relieves me in the evening so I can sleep, but I can’t leave lassie, or you, I feel so guilty.” 

Niall puts his hand on Clint’s shoulder, “Don’t, I feel guilty enough. It’s Cait, she was doing her thing, we had no idea. Come and walk with me. Alberto, are you good to stay with them?” 

“Sure, Niall, I drove down with Louis. All of your managers want you watched because of the media. It’s crazy out there,” Alberto says. 

Niall nods and the two men walk away. 

Louis looks at Cait and sees that she looks better than last time. She’ll hate that her hair was shaved and now she looks a bit like a mummy with the bandages. Her lips are chapped, but pink. He shudders when he remembers them turning blue; he has had nightmares since the attack and wakes up screaming and Harry calming him down. Louis was feeling her pulse slow and he was helpless, not being able to stop the blood. It was one of the scariest moments of his life. 

He takes a deep breath, shaking the thoughts from his head. This was just not going to work for him. He needs his friend back, that is the way it has to be he thinks as he sits down and squeezes her hand. 

“Alright, I’m only going to say this once. You need to wake up, this Sleeping Beauty act is getting old and it’s not becoming of a world record holder. I need someone to complain too when Hazza is driving me crazy. Besides, you should see all the attention you’re getting. The media is making you out to be the darling come-back kid attacked by her ex-boyfriend. I know the truth; I saw you give it to him, broke his nose. And, you are no come back, you never left, they didn’t have the eyeballs to notice. Your school is starting soon. I went and spoke to your headmaster. Don’t be mad, I told him that you are coming back, but that you may need a sub for a little while until you are back on your feet. I even volunteered, but they said I would be a distraction. Me, a distraction. I don’t know where that came from, I’m offended personally.” Louis pauses to catch his breath and looks up at Cait hoping that he would at least see a flicker. 

“So, Haz and I are going to be on tour and I want you to come see one of my shows. You can see his too, but mine is better. I can’t go though, unless you wake up. More like I won’t go until you wake up. Harry is not happy, we rescheduled because of the pandemic and he says we can’t reschedule again, especially with us going together.”  
Louis looks up again, and this time, he can’t keep it together. Tears find their way down his cheeks, but not by permission. “God, Cait, can’t you see what you are doing to us. You have me crying like a crazy, emotional woman. I can’t. Think of Ni, I’ve never seen that kid as torn up as he is right now. He misses you so much, can’t function. He feels so guilty, it weighs heavy on him. This is the first time he’s left your side; he loves you so much, you are his entire world. He is so sad. Please come back. . .” Louis’s voice cracks, and he stops talking, there is nothing else to say. He moves the chair around so he can put his feet up on the bedside table and face Cait, holding her hand and that is where Niall finds him when he comes back. 

Niall doesn’t comment on the red blotchy face that Louis has, but he knows. Since it doesn’t look like Louis is moving any time soon, Niall fetches another chair from outside and settles on the other side of the bed and they sit in silence. The trip outside did him good, he had forgotten what the sun on his face felt like. 

Sometime later Louis breaks the silence, “It’s not your fault ya’ know, she wouldn’t have wanted you to feel guilty. That is the last thing she would’ve wanted.” 

“I know,” Niall says quietly. 

The lapse into silence then, lost in their own thoughts when Niall hears Cait’s heart monitor start to speed up. Both guys look up, then at each other, then stand as if they synchronized it. 

Niall squeezes Cait’s hand, “Cait, can you hear me?” They both listen and hear a soft groan. Niall’s heart is beating fast and he looks at Louis, “Lou, call the nurse, push the button.” 

Louis does what he is told and says, “Cait, luv, it’s your annoying new best friend, open your eyes, darlin’.” 

Cait groans again and then her eyes flutter open. She looks from Niall to Louis, pulling her hand away clumsily from Niall and grabs his arm, pulling him closer to her. Niall leans towards her watching as she licks her lips, then in a wrecked voice, Cait whispers, “He was the one who hit me with the car, it was Jeff.” 

“What? Cait?” 

Cait drops her arm and closes her eyes again, spent from the effort. 

“Cait, wake up, come on, open your eyes,” Niall pleads, tears spilling from his eyes. He feels arms on his shoulders pulling him away. 

“Mr. Horan, please, let us see to her, the doctor is coming,” the nurse says. 

“She woke up, she opened her eyes and spoke,” Niall says frantically. 

“That’s good, now can you two wait outside, please?” The nurse asks. 

Louis pulls Niall away, the shock evident on his face as well, he heard too.


	25. Chapter 25

Both men are reeling with what she told them and Louis finds the number of the policeman that interviewed him to leave a message with the new information. Niall is pacing in the hallway, hands on his head, pulling at his hair. His face showing a myriad of emotions. 

Louis fills in the guards who are looking at Niall with concern and they are livid. 

“Ni, NIALL! Calm down, you need to call her parents and tell them she woke up. This is good news, she was coherent, and she was strong,” Louis says. 

That gets Niall’s attention and he pulls out his phone to call Trish. After that, they wait until the doctor comes out. Louis texts the group chat the news and Cait’s confession. The other guys’ reactions are as expected, Harry asks if he needs to come down. Louis tells him no, but that he is going to stay a bit. Someone needs to watch Niall. 

When the doctor and nurse come out, they have a smile on their faces and Niall’s heart starts to slow. “She is going to be fine. Cait woke up again while we are examining her. Other than a headache lingering from the concussion, she fine. No cognitive deficits,” the doctor explains. 

Niall feels like he is going to fall over and is thankful when Louis puts his arm around him.   
“Thank you, thank you doctor, what a relief. Can we go see her?” 

“Yes, she’s asleep, but that is all she is. I’m thinking she can go home in a few days once we get her up and walking.” 

Both guys nod and rush into the room. Cait looks like she did before, only no nasal canula or heart monitor. There is a bit of a flush on her cheeks too. Niall turns to Louis, feeling the damn that was holding his emotions together, finally give. Louis holds him because that is all he really can do, whispering reassurances, for Niall, but for himself too because he is crying as well. They don’t know how long they stand there, but when they break away, they laugh. “We are a bunch of ninnies, crying,” Niall says, wiping his eyes. 

“Let’s never speak of it again,” Louis says with a smile, wiping the tears off his own cheeks. 

“Deal, but thank you for being here.” 

They settle down to their spots again and wait, this time with hope in their chests. 

Two days later finds Cait sitting up in bed, eating breakfast and looking like she is a queen. The color back in her cheeks and her hair is washed and shiny, covering the stitches in the back of her head. Trish and Niall watch her, making sure she eats everything. Louis left the day before and Patrick last night because he had to go back to work. Since she woke up, Cait spoke with the police giving her account and they found out that Jeff confessed to hitting her with the car. Turns out he saw her running and tried to run her down. Full charges are being brought against him and he won’t get out anytime soon. Since he confessed, Cait will not even have to testify which relieved Niall, he didn’t want her to have to relive what happened, although she most likely will. 

Niall helped Cait walk yesterday, unsteady steps like a baby deer, exhausting her. She’s determined and the doctor is releasing her this afternoon because Niall has already planned on taking her to his place speaking to his doctor forwarding her records and a nurse will be coming twice a day along with a PT to see to her recovery. He doesn’t plan to let her leave his sight anytime soon. 

That evening, once Cait was settled in bed, out from the exhaustion of a three-hour car ride, being examined by the new doctor and nurse, Niall was sitting down next to her, brushing her hair off her face. He laid his hand on her cheek, then her lips, lightly brushing the tip of his finger over them smiling at the pink tint. He had to shake his head, to get the image of them turning blue out of his head. A yawn escaped and he realized he was exhausted as well. Standing he places his lips on her forehead, whispering “I love you,” before going and changing. 

Climbing into bed, he didn’t want to disturb Cait, but he wanted to hold her, something he hadn’t done in over a week. She made the decision for him when she snuggled up to him and brought his arm around her, kissing his hand, whispering, “I love you Niall James Horan.” 

“I love you, too, with my entire being always and forever,” he responds, kissing the back of her neck. 

“We’re going to be okay, stop worrying about me,” Cait says. 

That helped assuage the guilt Niall was feeling, but it still didn’t make it better, but he knows over time it will. 

With Cait healing, Jill finally convinced Niall to release a statement because pictures came out of him next to her at the club, as well as the one from the medal ceremony. Rumors were abounding everywhere. Cait understood. Almost dying changes perspective for sure. It wasn’t on their own terms, but those kind of went out the window when one might not be there to fulfill those terms. Their new terms were to keep living, loving and enjoying each other.


	26. Chapter 26

I couldn't quite put this story to bed. So many ideas and plotlines have kept me up at night. I'm deleting the epilogue and starting part four. Things may or may not happen according to the epilogue, but I'm not done writing about Cait and Niall. 

Look for the first few chapters to be published later this week. The title is "Take it As it Comes." 

Drop me a comment if you have any ideas for how you want the story to go. :)


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